At a meeting on July 14, 2008 the Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation made the following decisions on the items discussed.

1. On draft federal laws aimed at reducing administrative restrictions on entrepreneurial activities

The Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation approved the draft federal laws On Protecting the Rights of Legal Entities and Individual Businessmen During the State and Municipal Control (Supervision), On Introducing Amendments to a Number of Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on Replacement of Licensing with Civil Liability Insurance, and On Introducing Amendments to a Number of Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation (to Prevent the Agencies of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation from Exercising Extra-Judicial Rights During Inspections of Business Entities), and stated the need to adjust them in the following manner:

- to increase the list of activities requiring notification, rather than a permit, to get started;

- to specify procedures of mandatory insurance of the liability of business entities which no longer need licensing;

- to specify procedures of documented audits and inspections prior to the opening of a case in court.

The above draft federal laws shall be submitted to the State Duma within 10 days.

The meeting approved the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to a Number of Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation to Replace Mandatory Certification with the Declaration of Compliance and decided to submit it to the State Duma.

2. On introducing amendments to Government Decrees No 371 of July 23, 2004 and No 398 of July 30, 2004

The Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation has passed a draft decree on the above issue.

3. On the formation of an organising committee to prepare and hold an Intergovernmental Economic Conference of the Caspian States

The meeting approved the draft decree the Government of the Russian Federation on the above issue.

The Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation has instructed the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Federal Agency for Fishery, and the Foreign Ministry of Russia to analyse the state of affairs in international economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Caspian states, including joint projects. The relevant materials are to be submitted to the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia for generalisation and preparation of recommendations to the Caspian summit.

It was decided that the Foreign Ministry of Russia, by agreement with the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, shall be responsible for inviting delegations at the level of deputy prime ministers of the Caspian states to take part in the Intergovernmental Economic Conference of the Caspian States.

July 16, 2008

Moscow

*Decisions on the items on the agenda are taken with due account of the remarks and proposals made during the meeting of the Government Presidium and are issued as official documents of the Government of the Russian Federation.