28 january 2013

The Government adopted the following decisions at its meeting on January 25, 2013

Government decisions adopted at its January 25, 2013 meeting.

1. Implementing regional healthcare modernisation programmes in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in 2011-2012 and the target indicators for 2013

As of January 1, 2013, 579.4 billion roubles had been spent on implementing the programmes. The programmes have been more than 90% completed in seven regions, and practically all of the allocated funding has been used. These include the Altai and Khabarovsk territories, the Bryansk, Ivanovo, Ryazan and Tambov regions, and the Nenets Autonomous Area.Programmes and funding have been implemented 85% in 24 regions, including the republics of Adygeya, Altai, Buryatia, Mari El, Mordovia, Tatarstan, Chechnya, and Chuvashia, and the Belgorod, Vologda, Kemerovo, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Penza, Omsk, Samara, Saratov, Sakhalin, Tomsk, Tula, Tyumen, and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as the city of St Petersburg. The use of funding and the implementation of the programmes have been 75-85% completed in 49 constituent entities. The implementation of the programmes and the percentage of the funds used were under 75% completed in three regions, including the Chukotka Autonomous Area, the Republic of Ingushetia, and the Jewish Autonomous Region.

Government decisions:

1.To take note of the report on the above issue by Minister of Healthcare Veronika Skvortsova.

2. The Ministry of Healthcare (Veronika Skvortsova) jointly with the executive bodies of the constituent entities shall implement by July 1, 2013 the measures of regional healthcare modernisation programmes that have been planned for 2011-2012, paying particular attention to:

- observing the timetable and the extent of the fulfilment of the measures, including the commissioning of medical equipment;

- implementing measures to computerise healthcare institutions;

- publishing reports, including data on the use of allocated funds.

- organisinga public discussion of the results of the implementation of regional healthcare modernisation programmes in 2011-2012, and reporting the results to the Government before September 1, 2013, taking into account the opinions of non-governmental organisations.

3. The Ministry of Healthcare (Veronika Skvortsova) shall submit to the Government for consideration under the established procedure by March 15, 2013 a report by the Government Commission on the Protection of Citizens’ Health on the creation of a unified state healthcare information system containing data on the project and on the proposals for its further implementation, assessing the cost and the social and economic benefits.

4. To agree with the proposal from the Ministry of Healthcare (Veronika Skvortsova) to give priority to state and municipal healthcare institutions  delivering medical assistance to mothers and children in allocating funds earmarked in 2013 for improving the material and technical base under regional health care modernisation programmes for 2013.

2. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in Connection with the Adoption of the Federal Law On the Basic Principles of the Protection of the Health of Citizens in the Russian Federation

The draft law harmonises 57 legislative acts with the federal law On the Basic Principles of the Protection of the Health of Citizens in the Russian Federation.

Government decisions:

To approve the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in Connection with the Adoption of the Federal Law On the Basic Principles of the Protection of the Health of Citizens in the Russian Federation and to submit the same to the State Duma under the established procedure.

3. Draft federal law On Introducing an Amendment to Article 150, Part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation

(So far as it relates to improving  the mechanism for awarding VAT benefits when importing essential or vital medical technology)

Under the Tax Code, the goods referred to in Subclause 1, Clause 2, Article 149 of Part 2, and raw materials and complementary articles for their production, are exempt from VAT when imported into the Russian Federation.

Under Part 2, the sale within the Russian Federation of the following medical goods in accordance with the list approved by the Government shall be exempt from VAT:

  • essential or vital medical technology;
  • prosthetic and orthopaedic goods, raw and other materials, and semi-finished materials for the manufacture thereof;
  • technical means, including automobile transport and materials that may be used solely for preventing disabilities or rehabilitating people with disabilities;
  • spectacles, with the exception of sunglasses, lenses and rims for spectacles, with the exception of sunglasses.

To improve the tax administration mechanism, the draft law proposes to vest the Government with the authority to determine the list of the said medical goods, as well as raw materials and complementary articles for their production, which are exempt from VAT when imported.

The amendment has been prompted by the fact that it does not suffice to refer medical goods imported into the Russian Federation to the National Classification of Products, as in accordance with the Customs Union legislation, imported goods are classified according to the unified Foreign Trade Nomenclature of Goods of the Customs Union.

Government decisions:

To approve the draft federal law On Introducing an Amendment to Article 150, Part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, and to submit the same to the Duma under the established procedure.

4. 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 a closed list of the types of organisations, the fulfilment of contracts with which may be financed through using maternal capital – these are lending institutions, microfinance organisations, and consumer credit cooperatives. The activities of such organisations are regulated by special legislation and are subject to state control.

Credit consumer cooperatives whose activities are regulated under the federal law On Credit Cooperation shall be subject to double control – through self-regulating organisations and through the authorised federal executive body, namely, the Federal Service for Financial Markets.

The draft law also envisages the option of using maternal capital to defray the credits granted by other organisations whose obligations under contracts are secured by a mortgage. The non-compliance of an organisation with which a loan contract has been concluded with the requirements under the draft law shall serve as grounds to turn down an application to use maternal capital to defray the obligations under the loan contract.

This measure is aimed at preventing situations when organisations, while abusing the trust of citizens, effectively deprive them of maternal capital and of the opportunity to improve their housing conditions.

Government decisions:

1. To approve in the main 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 of the Russian Federation and to submit the same to the Duma under the established procedure.

2. The Ministry of Labour (Maksim Topilin), jointly with the Ministry of Finance, shall within two weeks submit to the Government the above draft law and finalised background materials for the document, confirming the accessibility to the population of the services of organisations that are allowed to grant loans for the acquisition  (construction) of housing with the use of maternal capital according to the draft law.

5. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On State Allowances to Citizens with Children Concerning the Payment of a Monthly Childcare Allowance to Mothers Dismissed from Their Jobs During Maternity Leave

The draft law would establish a unified approach for determining the size of the monthly childcare allowance (40% of the average wage) for individuals dismissed from their job during childcare leave and dismissed on the same grounds during maternity leave.

Government decisions:

To approve the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On State Allowances to Citizens with Children Concerning the Payment of a Monthly Childcare Allowance to Mothers Dismissed from Their Jobs During Maternity Leave and to submit the same to the Duma under the established procedure.

6. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On the Special Economic Zone in the Magadan Region

The draft federal law is aimed at enabling the participants in the SEZ in the Magadan Region to export for  their own production and technological needs goods subject to the customs procedure of a free customs zone and not subject to taxation from the territory of the SEZ in the Magadan Region to the rest of the region's territory without going through the customs procedures  in relation to above goods and without paying an import customs duty or the VAT.

Furthermore, to make it possible to use transport means belonging to the participants in the SEZ in the Magadan Region, the draft law would enlarge the concept of “own production and technological needs” by adding the need to perform activities connected with automobile transport. The amendment would make it possible to carry goods, passengers and luggage using these vehicles on the territory of the Magadan Region without paying the import customs duty and the VAT.

Government decisions:

To approve the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On the Special Economic Zone in the Magadan Region and to submit the same to the Duma under the established procedure.

7. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Part 1, Article 125 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation

The draft law proposes to introduce an amendment to Part 1, Article 125 of the Criminal Procedural Code whereby the resolutions of the inquiry officer, the investigator, and the head of an investigative body not to open a criminal case, to drop a criminal case, and any other decisions and actions, or the inaction, of the inquiry officer, the investigator, the head of an investigative body and the prosecutor, which may infringe upon the constitutional rights and the freedoms of the parties to criminal proceedings or to obstruct access to justice for citizens, can be challenged in situ where a crime suspected has been committed.

The draft law also proposes to add to Part 1 of Article 125 of the Criminal Procedural Code a new proposition whereby complaints on the decisions and the actions of the people referred to in this article shall be considered by the district court according to the territory jurisdiction of the body which is handling the criminal case if the place of the preliminary investigation into the case has been determined in accordance with parts 2-6 of Article 152.

The provisions of Part 1, Article 125, as stated in the draft law, together with Part 1 of Article 152, preclude their ambiguous interpretation and bring certainty to the issue of jurisdiction regarding complaints on the decisions and the actions, or the inaction, of the officials of interregional investigative departments holding preliminary investigations. 

Government decisions:

To approve the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Part 1, Article 125 of the Criminal Procedural Code and to submit the same to the Duma under the established procedure.

8. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Criminal-Procedural Code and the Code on Administrative Offences

(So far as it relates to the unconditional destruction of stock illegally put on the market and then confiscated by the state)

An acute and important problem in the development of the domestic light industry is the negative impact on the legal domestic producers of illegally imported and unregistered, as well as counterfeit, light industry goods. The share of such goods in the domestic market is over 50%. Legal producers are unable to effectively compete with the cited goods due to the price gap arising from the fact that these goods practically have no tax component in their price. Even if these products have been confiscated by the law enforcement bodies, including the customs authorities, under current legislation, part of these products return to the market, as the method for disposing of such products seized by the state do not prohibit their legalisation, i.e. do not envisage the unconditional destruction thereof.

The aim of the draft law is to ensure the unconditional destruction of the light industry goods withdrawn from commerce on various grounds. To this end, the law proposes introducing the necessary amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code and the Code on Administrative Offences to rule out the transfer of the light industry goods that have become the property of the State on whatever grounds  to corresponding organisations.

Government decisions:

To approve the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code and the Code on Administrative Offences and to submit the same to the Duma under the established procedure.

9. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On the Federal Courier Service

In connection with the adoption of the federal laws On the Police, On Service with the Internal Affairs Bodies and the Introduction of Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation, and On Social Guarantees for the Personnel of the Internal Affairs Bodies and the Introduction of Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation, , the need has arisen to harmonise the norms of the federal law On the Federal Courier Service with these regulatory legal acts.

The draft law proposes to introduce amendments to certain articles of the federal law On the Federal Courier Service and to bring the concepts of this legislative act into harmony with the above regulatory legal acts.

Government decisions:

To approve the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On the Federal Courier Service and to submit the document to the Duma under the established procedure.   

10. Signing the Convention between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Malta on Avoiding Double Taxation and Preventing Income Tax Evasion and the Protocol thereto

The draft convention covers, among other things, the taxes levied on the total incomes or the elements of the incomes of individuals who have their residence, reside permanently, or have their head office or their place of registration in the Russian Federation or Malta, including taxes on incomes from the sale of movable and immovable property and taxes on the total sum of wages paid by enterprises. Under the draft, the incomes from the entrepreneurial activities of a person of one signatory state is taxed by the other signatory state if the person in question engages in activities in this other state via a permanent representative office located in this state, but only that part that refers to a such permanent  representative office.

Incomes from immovable property may be taxed in the state where such property is actually located.

Profits derived by an enterprise of a signatory state from the use of seagoing vessels or aircraft for international carriage shall be taxable only in that state.

The draft convention would prevent tax discrimination, regulate the procedure of considering complaints and applications by taxpayers, and of dispute resolution, as well as issues of exchanging information between the competent bodies of the signatory states.

Government decisions:

To adopt the Government draft directive on the above issue.

11. Introducing amendments to certain acts of the Government of the Russian Federation

(So far as it relates to specifying the powers and the functions of the Ministry of Finance connected with issuing and circulating state and municipal securities)

In accordance with the provisions of the federal law On Special Features of the Issues and the Circulation of State and Municipal Securities, certain provisions of the acts establishing the powers and the functions of the Ministry of Finance have been modified. Specifically, the draft resolution offers a more precise wording of the government resolution On the Issues Concerning the Ministry of Finance regarding the powers of the ministry, to perform the state registration of the terms for issuing and circulating the securities of constituent entities or municipal securities, and also amendments introduced to the terms for issuing and circulating such securities.

The draft resolution also clarifies the provisions of the Statute on the Ministry of Finance concerning its powers:

  • to adopt reports on the results of issuing state securities;
  • to establish standards on the disclosure of information concerning the state securities of the constituent entities or the municipal securities contained in the decision on issuing the state securities of the constituent entities or municipal securities and in the report regarding the results of issuing such securities;
  • to establish the application forms for the state registration of the terms for issuing and circulating the state securities of a constituent entity or municipal securities, on the state registration of the amendments introduced to the terms for issuing and circulating the state securities of a constituent entity or municipal securities;
  • to approve the terms for issuing and circulating state securities and passing decisions on issuing state securities;
  • to clarify the functions of issuing state securities issuer (emitter);
  • to effect the state registration of the terms for issuing and circulating state securities of the constituent entities or municipal securities, as well as amendments introduced to the terms for issuing and circulating such securities.

Government decisions:

To adopt the Government draft resolution on the above issue.

12. Introducing amendments to the Government resolutions No 154 of April 6, 2004 and No 322 of June 30, 2004

Pursuant to the provisions of the federal law On Water Supply and the Allocation of Water Resources, the draft would introduce amendments to the Government resolution On Approving the Statute on the Federal Service for Protecting the Rights of Consumers and the Well-Being of Citizens on vesting Rospotrebnadzor with the powers to establish the criteria for declaring the substantial deterioration of the quality of drinking water, hot water, and the list of indicators by which the quality of drinking water and hot water is monitored, as well as the powers to set the demands regarding the frequency of recovering water samples.

In accordance with Government Resolution No 866 of August 28, 2012,  the statute shall also include the powers of Rospotrebnadzor to carry out the state registration of goods subject to sanitary and epidemiological supervision on the customs border and the territory of the Customs Union and in cases stipulated under the Customs Union technical regulations.

In accordance with the legislation on technical regulation, the statute will authorise Rospotrebnadzor to hold inspections in the course of implementing state control over compliance with technical regulations.

Government decisions:

To adopt the Government draft resolution on the above issue.

13. Financing the expenses for events due to take place in 2013 during the period of the Russian Federation’s presidency in the G20

The draft directive authorises a lump-sum contribution from the federal budget to the International Monetary Fund in the amount of up to $1 million to finance the expenses connected with the holding in 2013 during the period of the Russian presidency of the G20 of meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington DC, as part of the spring and autumn sessions of the governing bodies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Government decisions:

To adopt the Government draft directive on the above issue.