The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the Government meeting on January 25, 2013:
1. On implementing regional healthcare modernisation programmes in 2011-2013 and the targets for 2013
As of January 1, 2013, 579.4 billion roubles have been spent on the programmes.
The programmes have been over 90% completed in seven regions. Nearly all of the funds have been used in the Altai and Khabarovsk territories, in the Bryansk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Tambov regions, and in the Nenets Autonomous Area.
The level of the implementation of the programmes and the level of the use of the funds have exceeded 85% in 24 regions – in the Altai Territory, in the republics of Adygea, Buryatia, Chechnya, Chuvashia, Mari El, Mordovia, and Tatarstan, in the Belgorod, Kemerovo, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Penza, Omsk, Samara, Saratov, Sakhalin, Tomsk, Tula, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, and Vologda regions, and also in St Petersburg.
In 49 regions, the level of the use of the funds and the implementation of the programmes has reached approximately 75%-85%. The level of the use of the funds remains under 75% in the Chukotka Autonomous Area, in the Republic of Ingushetia, and in the Jewish Autonomous Region.
2. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation due to the Adoption of the Federal Law On the Foundations of Health Protection in the Russian Federation
The draft law harmonises 57 legislative acts with the federal law On the Foundations of Health Protection in the Russian Federation.
3. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Article 150 of Part Two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation
(Concerns improving the mechanism of VAT concessions in vital medical equipment imports)
The Tax Code establishes that the imports of the commodities listed in Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph 2 of Article 149 in Part 2 of the Tax Code, as well as raw materials and components for their production, are VAT-free.
Under Part 2 of the Tax Code, imports of the following medical items are VAT-free according to the list approved by the Government:
To improve the taxing mechanism, the proposal has been made to extend to the Government the powers to establish the list of these VAT-free imports of medical items, as well as raw materials and components for their production.
The amendment is due to the concept that the inclusion of imported medical commodities in the Russian Product Classification is insufficient, as under Customs Union law, the import classification is held according to the uniform Commodity Nomenclature of the Customs Union Foreign Economic Activities.
4. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Articles 8 and 10 of the Federal Law On Additional Measures of State Support for Families with Children
The draft law proposes to establish a restricted list of the types of organisations that can accept maternal capital funds under contracts – banks, micro-finance organisations, and consumer credit cooperatives. The operation of such organisations is regulated by a special law and falls under state control.
The double control system – through SRO and the authorised federal executive body, the Federal Service for Financial Markets – is previewed for consumer credit organisations whose operation is regulated by the federal law On Credit Cooperation.
The draft law establishes the option of using maternal capital to repay loans extended by other organisations under mortgage contracts.
If a borrowing organisation does not meet the requirements established by the law, the applicant will not be able to use her maternity capital to cover her liabilities under a loan contract.
This measure aims to prevent cases when organisations abuse a woman’s confidence and practically steal her maternity capital and the possibility for her to improve her living conditions.
5. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On State Allowances to Citizens with Children in Respect to Monthly Childcare Allowance for Mothers Fired during Maternity Leave
The draft law establishes a uniform approach to calculating a monthly childcare allowance (40% of the average salary) for mothers fired during childcare and maternity leave.
6. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On the Special Economic Zone in the Magadan Region
The draft federal law has been developed to make it possible for the Magadan Regional Special Economic Zone (SEZ) participants to export, for their own production and technology needs, the non-excisable commodities subject to the customs procedure of the free customs zone, from the SEZ to other parts of the Magadan Region without having to pass through any customs procedure, or having to pay import customs duties or VAT.
In addition, the draft law adds to the concept of their own production and their technology needs the need to carry out an activity concerned with road haulage to make it possible for SEZ participants to use their vehicles. This amendment makes it possible to transport commodities, passengers and luggage with the listed vehicles in the Magadan Region without having to pay import customs duties or VAT.
7. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Part 1 of Article 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation
According to the amendment to Part 1 of Article 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a resolution of an investigator or the head of an investigative agency refusing to open a criminal case, terminating a criminal case, or other decisions and actions, or inaction, of an investigator or the head of an investigative agency or a prosecutor, which may damage the constitutional rights and freedoms of the criminal proceeding participants or hinder a citizen’s access to justice, is appealed at the location of the crime.
Under the draft law, a new sentence will be added to Part 1 of Article 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code. This new sentence will state that the complaints against the decisions and the actions of the aforementioned officials are examined by the district court in the same district where the relevant agency is investigating the criminal case, in cases where the location of the preliminary investigation of the criminal case is determined according to parts 2-6 of Article 152 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The statutes of Part 1 of Article 125 (with the draft law amendments) of the Criminal Procedure Code, together with Part 1 of Article 152, will prevent ambiguity and establish clarity in resolving the issues of liability and of the filing of complaints against the decisions and the acts of the officials of the inter-district investigative departments holding the preliminary investigation.
8. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and Administrative Offence Code (in respect to the unconditional destruction of seized counterfeit items)
The operation of legal national light industry producers is hindered by illegal imports and illegal and counterfeit light industry products. These products hold an over-50% share of the domestic market. Legal products cannot effectively compete with illegal products because the prices of counterfeit/illegal goods do not include a tax component and are much lower. When the law enforcement agencies (including the customs offices) seize illegal products, some of them legally return to the commodity market. Their unconditional destruction is not required under current law.
The draft law aims to resolve the task of the unconditional destruction of such seized light industry goods. The proposal has been made to introduce amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and Administrative Offence Code to prevent the return of these goods to the commodity market.
9. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On Federal Courier Communication
Following the adoption of the federal laws On the Police, On Service in the Law Enforcement Agencies of the Russian Federation and Introducing Amendments to Some Legal Acts of the Russian Federation and On Social Guarantees to Law Enforcement Officials of the Russian Federation and Introducing Amendments to Some Legal Acts of the Russian Federation, the necessity arises to harmonise the standards of the federal law On the Federal Courier Communication with these regulatory acts.
The draft law introduces some clarifying amendments to a number of articles of the federal law On the Federal Courier Communication and harmonises the terminology of this legal act with the aforementioned regulatory acts.
10. On signing a convention between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Malta on preventing double taxation and tax evasion in respect to income taxes, and the protocol
The draft convention covers income taxes levied on the total income or on some income components of individuals residing, permanently residing, or having their place of management or registration in the Russian Federation or in Malta, including income taxes on movable or immovable property sales and salary tax (on the total salary paid by an enterprise).
Under the draft convention, the taxation of an income from the business activity of an individual of one contracting state is held in the other contracting state if this individual operates in the other state via a permanent representative office located in the other state, but only in the sphere concerning that permanent representative office.
The income from immovable property sales can be taxed by the state where this property is located.
A contracting state’s enterprise gaining profit from the operation of sea vessels or aircraft in international haulage is taxed by the above state.
The draft convention prevents tax discrimination and regulates the procedure for examining the applications and the petitions of taxpayers and the dispute-settling procedure, as well as the issues of sharing information between the relevant agencies of the contracting states.
11. On introducing amendments to some acts of the Government of the Russian Federation
(Concerns elaborating the Ministry of Finance's powers and functions on the emission and the circulation of state and municipal securities)
Under the statutes of the federal law On the Peculiarities of the Emission and the Circulation of State and Municipal Securities, the draft resolution elaborates a number of statutes of the acts establishing the Ministry of Finance's powers and functions. The draft resolution elaborates the new version of the Government resolution, the Statute of the Ministry of Finance in respect to the Ministry's powers on registering the conditions for the emission and the circulation of regional securities or municipal securities, and amendments introduced to the conditions regarding the emission and the circulation of these securities.
The draft resolution also elaborates the standards of the Statute of the Ministry of Finance in respect to its powers:
On accepting reports on the results of state securities emissions;
12. On introducing amendments to Government Resolution No 154 of April 6, 2004 and Resolution No 322 of June 30, 2004
To implement the statutes of the federal law On Water Supply and Discharge, the draft law introduces amendments to the Government Resolution On Adopting the Statute on the Federal Service for the Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare, and extends to the federal service the powers to establish the criteria concerning the deterioration of drinking and hot water quality, the list of indicators for conducting industrial control over the drinking and hot water quality, and the powers to establish the standards for water-test frequency.
Under Government Resolution No 866 of August 28, 2012, the statute includes the federal service's power to hold the state registration of the commodities subject to sanitation and epidemiological supervision on the customs border and the customs territory of the Customs Union, as well as in the cases stipulated in the technical regulations of the Customs Union.
Under the law on technical regulation, the statute includes the federal service's power to conduct inspections while exercising state supervision over the compliance with the technical regulation standards.
13. On financing the expenses of the G20 events to be held in 2013 in the period of Russia’s presidency
Under the draft executive order, the federal budget will transfer a single contribution of up to $1 million to the IMF to finance the expenses of G20 events to be held in 2013 in the period of Russia’s presidency – meetings between G20 ministers of finance and central bank governors in Washington, DC, during the IMF and WB governing body spring and autumn conferences.
Moscow,
January 24, 2013
* The contents of press releases of the Department of the Press Service and Information contain materials submitted by the federal executive bodies for discussion at the Government meeting
