13 february 2013

Background material for the February 13, 2013 Government meeting

The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the Government meeting:

1. Draft state programme The Development of Financial and Insurance Markets and the Creation of an International Financial Centre.

The programme will improve market infrastructure effectiveness and financial market transparency, increase the number of market players and the market capacity, expand the range of market tools, and improve financial information quality and access. 

The draft programme includes two sub-programmes: Normative Legal Regulation of the Financial Market and Control and Supervision on the Financial Market.

 

2. Draft federal law On Introducing an Amendment to Article 15.11 of the Code on Administrative Offences.

 Article 15.11 of the Code on Administrative Offences provides for administrative fines for blatantly offending accounting and financial report rules. Blatant offences include at least a 10% distortion of the accrued taxes, or at least a 10% distortion of any line in a financial report. Fixing a distortion does not prevent a fine.  

The draft law adds to Article 15.11 statutes lifting the responsibility of officials if they submit a rectified tax declaration and pay the deficient amount of tax and other penalties under the conditions provided for by Article 81 of the Tax Code.

Under the afore-mentioned article, the taxpayer is not fined when he submits a rectified tax declaration in the following cases – before the tax payment deadline, before the moment when the taxpayer learns that a taxation body has uncovered errors leading to an underestimation or that a taxation body has ordered a field tax inspection; , on the expiration of the tax payment period, or before the afore-mentioned instance provided that the taxpayer has paid the deficient amount of the tax and relevant penalties.     

Officials are not fined if they fix their accounting errors in the correct order, such as submitting a reviewed financial report, before its approval.

 

3. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On the Security of Fuel and Energy Facilities

(Concerning the handover from the National Antiterrorist Committee to the Government of the Russian Federation of the powers to establish the procedure for issuing notifications about threats of or an act of illegal interference at fuel and energy facilities or regarding the security standards at fuel and energy communications and utility lines)

Under the draft law, the immediate information procedure concerning threats or acts of illegal interference at fuel and energy facilities and security standards at fuel and energy communications and utility lines is established by the Government and not by the National Antiterrorist Committee.

 

4. On the draft federal law On Introducing an Amendment to Article 10 of the Federal Law On the State Civil Service of the Russian Federation

The draft federal law introduces an amendment to the federal law On the State Civil Service of the Russian Federation in respect to delegating to a region the powers to establish posts of regional state civil service while taking into account the structure of the state bodies of this region. The register of the posts of the regional state civil service must be approved by a regional law or a regulatory act while taking due account of the principles of the structure of the Register of Posts of the federal state civil service and under the categories and the groups of the posts of the federal state civil service included in the article of the afore-mentioned federal law.

This approach will provide for the uniformity of the legal and the organising foundations of the federal state civil service and the regional state civil service to implement the constitutional principle of the unified system of state power. This approach provides for federal law criteria establishing the content of the Register of Posts of the regional state civil service.

 

5. Draft federal law On Introducing an Amendment to Article 4 of the Federal Law On the Development of Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses in the Russian Federation

 The draft law lifts restrictions on the stake in the charter capital of small- and medium-sized businesses founded by autonomous research and autpnpmous educational institutions.

The draft law grants foreign nationals the right to create small- and medium-sized businesses in Russia without restrictions on their stake in the charter capital. 

In addition, the draft law lifts this restriction for organisations included in the Government-approved list. Under the draft law, the Government establishes the procedure for forming this list.

This provision seeks to grant the status of small- and medium-sized businesses to commercial entities created by companies attributed to development institutions. This makes it possible to extend them additional financial and material support. 

6. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Part 4 of Article 1 of the Federal Law On Purchases of Commodities, Works and Services by Certain Types of Legal Entities

 The draft law withdraws from the effect of the federal law On Purchases of Commodities, Works and Services by Certain Types of Legal Entities interbank and leasing operations performed by credit organisations, relations regarding the sale and purchase of precious metals and derivative contracts, excluding supplying off-exchange deliverable derivative contracts whose basic asset is a real commodity. 

In this case, leasing operations include cases when the customer – a credit organisation – is a lessor. It takes possession under the leasing contract with attracted and/or its own funds of some property and grants a lease to a lessee for payment for a certain period and under certain conditions for temporary ownership and use with/without transferring the right of ownership of the object of leasing to a lessee. 

 

7. Signing the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Cuba on Cooperation in Research and Use of Space for Peaceful Purposes

 The agreement is aimed at mutually advantageous Russia-Cuba cooperation in space telecommunications, satellite navigation, Earth remote probing, space medicine and biology, training Cuban personnel, and so on.

This framework agreement provides for the main conditions of Russia-Cuba cooperation in joint space activity, regulates intellectual property rights, export control, favourable special purpose goods transportation, provides for protecting exported goods belonging to the exporting side and its relevant organisations on the territory of the importing side, regulates the treatment of various types of information and also issues of technology protection. 

 

8. Submitting to the President of the Russian Federation the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan on the Status and Conditions of Maintaining the Russian Military Base in Tajikistan for subsequent introducing for ratification.

The draft resolution proposes to approve the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan on the Status and Conditions of Maintaining the Russian Military Base in Tajikistan and submit  it to the President for subsequent introducing it to the State Duma for ratification.

The provisions of this agreement fix the long-term Russian military presence in Tajikistan (for 49 years) and provide for the legal regulation on the interstate level of issues connected with the location and the operation of the Russian military base in Tajikistan.

The agreement's ratification will strengthen regional defence security.

 

Moscow,
February 12, 2013 

 *The contents of press releases of the Department of the Press Service and Information are based on the materials submitted by the federal executive bodies for discussion at the Government meeting.