The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the meeting of the Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation on March 5, 2009:

1. Measures to ensure seasonal agricultural work in the spring of 2009

The output of almost all agricultural crops increased in 2008.

According to the preliminary Rosstat data, last year agricultural output increased by 10.8% compared with 2007 in comparable prices. Crop output increased by 17.6% and livestock output, by 3.4%.

The main areas of crop growing have reported high production indicators.

The gross grain harvest amounted to 108.1 million tonnes, which is 26.5 million tonnes, or 32.6%, above the 2007 level, the best indicators since 1990. The grain yield per hectare was 2,380 kg/ha, the highest productivity of grain crops in Russian history. For the first time, 63.7 million tonnes of wheat has been harvested.

Last year the increase in crop growing was aided by measures taken at the federal and regional levels. Most important were the 10% increase in the use of mineral fertiliser, the leasing of sowing and harvesting machinery, and the introduction of modern resource-saving technologies.

Optimisation of the timing of seasonal agricultural work owes something to the subsidised loans to agricultural producers for a period of one year to buy fuel and lubricants, seeds, fertiliser, plant protection means, and other measures of government support of crop growing.

Government support enabled farmers to buy 271,400 tonnes of high-grade seeds and deliver 14,300 tonnes of fodder crop seeds to the northern regions in 2008.

Farms in 66 regions signed crop insurance contracts. The federal budget has allocated 3,400 million roubles to compensate for part of the cost of crop insurance.

The federal budget transferred 7,111.5 million roubles to the budgets of the Russian regions to compensate for part of the cost of interest on short-term loans.

To offset the negative impact of the growing prices for fuel and lubricants, the 2008 federal budget envisaged subsidies to agricultural producers in the amount of 10 billion roubles to compensate for part of the cost of buying diesel fuel used during seasonal agricultural work.

To strengthen the financial situation of agricultural entities, work continued to reschedule their debts.

Monitoring of the progress in rescheduling the debts has shown that the programme of financial rehabilitation in the Russian Federation as a whole involves 12,900 agricultural entities with which debt rescheduling agreements have been signed to the tune of 84.3 billion roubles.

The financial performance of agricultural organisations reported some improvement in 2008. The share of profit-making entities increased from 75% to 82%. At the same time, as a result of higher production costs the overall profit margin in agricultural production (considering subsidies out of the budgets of all levels) was 15%, compared with 17.2% in 2007.

Preparation for the spring sowing season

Winter grain crops occupy an area of 17.1 million hectares, an increase of 0.3 million hectares from the previous year. 13.8 million hectares (78% of the total) has been sown with winter wheat, 2.4 million hectares with winter rye, 0.6 million hectares with winter barley, and 0.3 million hectares with winter triticale.

25 million hectares of autumn-ploughed land has been brought in, which is on a par with last year's total.

This year spring sowing will be conducted on an area of 48.7 million hectares, of which spring grain and legumes will occupy 31.3 million hectares, the same as in the previous year.

Availability and condition of the fleet of the main types of machines

After the end of the 2008 agricultural season, more than 70% of the Russian agricultural sector's fleet of tractors, ploughs, cultivators, planting and other machines are in need of maintenance and overhaul.

Experts estimate that the overall cost of repairing the machinery is about 41 billion roubles, of which the purchase of spare parts will cost 17.6 billion roubles, including 7.5 billion roubles for the spring sowing.

In 2008 agricultural producers bought 23,800 tractors, 9,600 grain combine harvesters and 3,100 fodder combine harvesters, an increase from 2007 of 1.4 times for tractors, 1.6 times for grain harvester combines, and two times for fodder harvester combines. These increases created good technological prerequisites in the preparation for spring sowing and harvesting this year.

Availability of power in 2008 increased to 145 hp and is expected to increase to 150 hp per 100 hectares of ploughed land.

Availability of fuel and lubricants

The Agriculture Ministry, together with the Russian regions, has worked out and agreed with the Ministry of Economic Development and secured approval by the Ministry of Energy the agricultural requirements for the main types of fuel and lubricants, diesel fuel, and petrol in 2009: 5.45 million tonnes of diesel fuel and 2.02 million tonnes of petrol.

The cost of acquiring petrol and diesel fuel in 2009 (in prices as of February 12, 2009) will amount to 137.8 billion roubles.

According to the Ministry of Energy, the average wholesale price in the diesel fuel market as of February 12, 2009 was 19,169 roubles per tonne. The average price of grade A-76/80 petrol was 16,458 roubles per tonne. During the five weeks of price monitoring (from January 15 to February 12, 2009) a steady upward trend in fuel and lubricants prices was revealed. During said period, the average wholesale prices charged by petroleum products enterprises increased by 17.6% for petrol and 20.2% for diesel fuel.

Provision of seeds

According to Federal State Organisation Rosselkhoztsentr, part of the Ministry of Agriculture, agriculture has been fully provided with spring crop seeds for the spring sowing season.

Provision of mineral fertiliser

In accordance with the State Programme, at least 2.2 million tonnes of active mineral fertiliser substance is to be used in 2009, 1.7 million tonnes of which during the spring sowing of agricultural crops. The total cost of fertiliser will be about 43 billion roubles, of which 33-35 billion roubles will be required to buy fertiliser for the spring sowing. As of February 1 of this year, the available stock of mineral fertilizer for the 2009 spring season was 554,000 tonnes of active substance, which is 225,000 tonnes more than on the same date in 2008 (32% of the required amount). Of the total amount of fertiliser, nitric fertiliser accounts for 413,000 tonnes of active substance, which practically covers the entire demand for supporting winter crops in early spring.

Land improvement

Government-owned irrigation and amelioration systems comprise 4,909 hydro engineering facilities, 1,007 electrical pumps in need of repair, 14,960,000 cubic meters of earth moving work needs to be done to dredge water conveyance ditches. That work will cost 1.0 billion roubles.

The irrigation systems used by agricultural producers are to be prepared on an area of 2,154,000 hectares and amelioration systems, on an area of 1,436,000 hectares. As of February 1, 2009, 48% of irrigation and 52% of amelioration systems were ready. In 2008 the respective figures were 47% and 50%.

The irrigation plan for 2009 envisages the watering of agricultural crops on an area of 2.6 million hectares, which is 10% more than in 2008.

One of the problems in irrigation in the production of vegetables, fodders, and other crops is the cost of electricity used by electrical pumps. 1,170 pumps are on the federal balance books.

The Federal Agency for Land Amelioration and Water Supply for Agriculture pays for electricity according to regulated and unregulated tariffs.

Amount of funding of agricultural work

State support of agricultural producers amounts to a total of 194.8 billion roubles (including an additional allocation of 87.0 billion roubles as part of anti-crisis measures) compared with 137.2 billion roubles in 2008.

According to information provided by the regions of the Russian Federation, the requirement among agricultural producers for short-term loans for the spring sowing season is about 116.32 billion roubles. Considering the resources held by agricultural producers, about 200 billion roubles will be required for spring sowing. Rosselkhozbank is prepared to extend a loan of about 60.0 billion roubles for these purposes, while Sberbank has earmarked 55.0 billion roubles.

The following are the measures taken by the Ministry of Agriculture to credit agricultural organisations:

• creating a working group to coordinate the crediting of agricultural enterprises with the participation of leading banks, associations of agricultural producers, and agricultural holding companies;
• weekly and monthly monitoring, together with the banks concerned, of crediting of agricultural enterprises;
• determining the amount of credit resources for 2009 together with the banks;
• approving the list of backbone agricultural organisations;
• creating a working group to monitor and assess the financial and economic status of backbone enterprises.

The Government of the Russian Federation has made a decision to allocate 45 billion roubles of federal budget money to increase the authorized capital of Rosselkhozbank and 25 billion roubles to increase the authorised capital of Rosagroleasing. The agri-industrial complex is named as a priority sector in the Memorandum on the Financial Policy of the Development Bank (Vnesheconombank). The banks have updated the amount of crediting of spring sowing, including a regional breakdown of the Russian Federation.

2. Progress in implementing measures aimed at improving the situation in the financial sector and some other sectors of the economy

To improve the situation in the financial sector and some other sectors of the economy, the Government of the Russian Federation is implementing the following scheme of measures to support the industry and the households, so as to develop the financial and banking system.

I. The main comprehensive document setting forth the anti-crisis measures in various sectors of the economy is the Action Plan aimed at improving the situation in the financial sector and some other sectors of the economy (approved by Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on November 6, 2008, No. 4863p-P13).

The Action Plan contains 55 measures and as of February 24, 2009, 37 of the Action Plan items had been fulfilled, including the adoption of 17 federal laws, 33 Government resolutions, and five Government Executive Orders.

In February 2009, decisions were made in support of agriculture and small enterprises.

The decision on additional capitalisation of Rosselkhozbank and Rosagroleasing has been carried out. To this end, the Government issued Executive Order 122-r of February 5, 2009 On Disbursement out of the Federal Budget in the First Quarter of 2009 of 45.0 Billion Roubles to Increase the Authorised Capital of Rosselkhozbank for the Purpose of Crediting Agricultural Enterprises and Purchase Interventions, and 25.0 Billion Roubles to Rosagroleasing to Acquire Domestically-Produced Agricultural Machinery to be Leased.

To increase the programme of financial support for small and medium-size enterprises being implemented by Vnesheconombank, some of the additional resources are to be directed to credit small businesses, including loans of up to 1 million roubles to small borrowers, in accordance with the Government Resolution of January 12, 2009 On Additional Measures of State Support of Small and Medium-Size Enterprises and for the purpose of implementing the mechanism of refinancing the credit portfolios of small and medium-size enterprises formed by Russian lending institutions with the resources made available by the Russian Federation to Vnesheconombank of Russia, the Supervisory Board of Vnesheconombank approved the Procedure of Delivering Financial Support to Small and Medium Enterprises by the State Corporation Bank of Development and Foreign Trade (Vnesheconombank) on February 5, 2009.

During the course of implementing said measure, the current level of availability of credit resources for small and medium-size enterprises is to be preserved, and the liquidity of lending institutions for the purpose of crediting small and medium-size enterprises is to be increased. The resources are to be made available to banks against the pledge of claims to small and medium-size enterprises and to infrastructure organisations (factoring and leasing companies). At the same time, the programme may be followed up by refinancing at the Bank of Russia against the pledge of claims to the lending institutions participating in the programme.

In addition, regulatory acts aimed at implementing items 9, 25, 41, and 54 of the Action Plan have been submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation according to established procedure:

• Draft Federal Law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law on the Securities Market (regarding the creation of mechanisms to protect the rights of bond holders);
• Draft Government Resolution On Introducing Amendments to the Classification of the Basic Assets Included in Depreciation Groups;
• final draft of the Government Resolution On Approving the Rules of Granting Subsidies to Defence Industry Organisations that are Chief Contractors (Contractors) of the State Defence Order to compensate for part of the cost of interest on loans obtained from Russian lending institutions;
• Draft Government Resolution On Support of Small and Medium-Size Enterprises Leasing Federal Immovable Property.

II. To address the specific problems of the development of individual sectors of the economy and for the purpose of customising the instruments of state support for concrete sectors, the Government of the Russian Federation is developing and implementing additional anti-crisis measures aimed at supporting the development of the economy and the key sectors that are particularly vulnerable to turbulence in the financial market and the deterioration of the bank crediting situation, so as to maintain the rate and quality of growth of the economy in the context of the world financial crisis.

To expand and make the monitoring of the use of the resources allocated to lending institutions for the support of the financial system of the Russian Federation more effective, Federal Law No.317-FZ On Introducing Amendments to Articles 46 and 76 of Federal Law No.86-FZ of July 10, 2002 On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia) was passed on December 30, 2008. In accordance with the above law, the Bank of Russia has passed the following regulatory acts:

• Directive of the Bank of Russia No.2182-U of February 9, 2009 On the Procedure of Appointing Authorised Representatives of the Bank of Russia, Their Activities, and Termination of Their Activities. The directive sets the requirements to the employees of the Bank of Russia eligible to be appointed as authorised representatives, sets down the procedure of their appointment and dismissal and envisages:
• the participation of authorised representatives of the Bank of Russia as non-voting members on the governing bodies of lending institutions that make decisions on issues of credits, and the management of their assets and liabilities;
• notification of authorised representatives by lending institutions of their intention to implement deals (transactions) stipulated under the Law;
• authorised representatives may request information and documents on the activities of the lending institutions in matters of crediting, extension of guarantees, management of assets and liabilities (claims and obligations), and the size of remuneration paid by lending institutions to individuals and collective executive bodies;
• authorised representatives carry out preliminary analysis of the information and documents received from lending institutions;
• authorised representatives brief the management of the Bank of Russia on the results of preliminary analyses of information and documents received from the lending institutions.

The Directive, in accordance with the Law, has been agreed with the Government of the Russian Federation (Government Executive Order No.121-r of February 4, 2009);

• Directive of the Bank of Russia No.2181-U of February 9, 2009 On the Procedure of Submission by the Lending Institutions of Information and Documents to the authorised representatives of the Bank of Russia which establishes the procedure through which a lending institution submits information to the authorised representative on the intention to implement deals (transactions) in accordance with the Law as well as at the request of the authorised representative of the Bank of Russia for information on the size of the remuneration paid by the lending institution to the individual and collective executive bodies, information and documents on the issues of crediting, granting of guarantees, the management of assets and liabilities (claims and obligations), and other information.

In January 2009 the Bank of Russia circulated letters to its regional branches urging them, in conducting audits in 2009, to pay particular attention to auditing the activities of lending institutions that received government support.

The letters stress the need to check the authenticity of the information and documents provided by the lending institutions to the authorised representatives of the Bank of Russia and the compliance of lending institutions with Bank of Russia recommendations on limiting the growth of foreign assets, as well as the need to include information on confirmed facts of banks issuing loans to organisations that are not engaged in real activities and conduct "dubious" transactions in the audit statements.

In addition, in connection with the information received by the Bank of Russia from the law enforcement bodies about banks that transfer money abroad during the period when they receive government support (including in amounts that exceed the amount of government support), and for the purpose of revealing facts that attest to non-transparent transactions carried out by these lending institutions involving the diversion of money abroad and their possible interconnection with the spending of government support resources, scheduled and challenge inspections are to be organised.

Adjustments have been introduced in the General Plan of Comprehensive and Thematic Audits for 2009 that put forward the time of audits of such lending institutions.

On February 9, 2009, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors approved the Directive of the Bank of Russia On Introducing Amendments to Directive of the Bank of Russia No.1376-U of January 16, 2004 On the List, Forms, and Procedure of Compiling and Submitting Reports of Lending Institutions to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation registered by the Justice Ministry of the Russian Federation on February 18, 2009, No.13397. Information on the amounts spent by banks to extend loans to priority sectors is to be provided on a monthly basis.

III. To organise permanent monitoring of the implementation of the decisions aimed at improving the situation in the financial sector and some other sectors of the economy, to ensure a comprehensive analysis and setting of guidelines for further development of economic sectors, the Government of the Russian Federation passed Resolution No.957 of December 15, 2008 to form a Government Commission on Sustained Economic Development.

Throughout February 2009, the Commission has discussed the following issues:

• fulfilment of measures aimed at improving the situation in the financial sector and some other sectors of the economy;
• measures to ensure economically reasonable terms of crediting the industry;
• the list of main employers in the city;
• guidelines for the investment programme in the power industry in 2009-2011 and measures to optimise the costs of power industry organisations;
• measures to ensure timely payment of wages;
• fulfilment of decisions aimed at creating mechanisms of re-employment of laid-off workers and organising temporary work places and the possibility of acquiring additional qualifications.
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Issues of support of individual enterprises are additionally discussed as part of the work with backbone organisations as per the list approved by decision of the Government Sustained Economic Development Commission on December 23, 2008. The list includes 295 organisations. Based on the decision of the Commission of December 23, 2008, a task force has been created to monitor the financial and economic state of the organisations listed as strategic.

The following are the main areas of the working group's work:

• monitoring of the financial and economic state of backbone enterprises and main employers in the city;
• ensuring interaction between the federal executive bodies and the executive bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation in supporting backbone enterprises and main employers in the city;
• proceeding from the monitoring results, prepare proposals on a set of measures to ensure the financial and economic stability of backbone enterprises;
• preparing proposals on amendments to the list of backbone enterprises to be discussed by the Commission.

3. Draft Federal Law On Introducing Amendments to Article 50 of the Federal Law On Education and to Article 16 of the Federal Law On Higher and Further Professional Education.

Practically all the Russian regions are working to restore and organise new student work teams. This work has been prompted by the growth of production, the increased amount of work in various sectors of the economy, and the need for mobile human resources. The work of youth, social, political, trade union, and other organisations in this area has been more active recently.

The movement of student work teams in the Russian Federation is steadily growing. During the summer of 2001, 24,000 students worked in 745 teams in various areas, whereas in 2005 there were 4,500 student teams working in various areas, with total membership numbering 156,000. At present, more than 250,000 students are members of student work teams in the Russian Federation.

Student work teams take part in implementing the Affordable and Comfortable Housing and Development of the Agri-Industrial Complex priority national projects, as well as other national projects such as the building of sports facilities for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi, capital repair of blocks of flats as part of the programmes of the state corporation Housing and Utilities Reform Fund, and the construction of facilities for the APEC-2012 Summit on Russky Island in the Primorye Territory.

At present, student work teams operate in diverse areas: construction, teaching, agriculture, train conductors, service, and multiple-service teams. The multiple service teams include those working in law enforcement, rescue, environmental, search units (the search and burial of the remains of World War Two victims), work in supermarkets, advertising actions, and restoration of cultural and architectural monuments. The above list demonstrates that student labour can be used in practically every area of the country's social and economic development.

Organising student employment takes on particular relevance today and corresponds to the priorities of the Strategy of the State Youth Policy in the Russian Federation. One of the projects of the Strategy of State Youth Policy in the Russian Federation, Career, has the following main goals:

• occupational guidance of youth in the labour market;
• development of models and forms of involving young people in labour and economic activities to enable them to support themselves.

To achieve these goals, measures must be taken to involve young people in the activities of labour associations, student teams, youth labour exchanges, and other forms of youth employment. Although students are generally becoming more active in the student teams movement, the movement still faces a number of serious problems:

• lack of a uniform definition for "student team" and the features of its organisation and activities among employers, government bodies and the members of student teams themselves;
• lack of uniform standards and approaches to the preparation and organisation of student teams;
• lack of a single system of protecting the rights and legitimate interests of the members of student teams and of informing the teams about the priority demands of the labour market in various regions of the Russian Federation;
• student teams are discredited by renegade teams of young people who pass themselves off as student teams;
• lack of a uniform approach and concept of the role of student teams in the process of civic and patriotic education of youth in educational institutions.

In the absence of a uniform definition of the status of student teams, there is a great variety of forms and types of student team organization: 45% of student teams are NGOs, 42% represent government bodies, no less than 7% are registered as limited liability companies, 4% are non-profit partnerships, and 2% are interregional non-governmental associations.

The above problems impede the development of the student teams movement and the achievement of its goals: socialisation, the fostering of civic attitudes and patriotism among the youth, implementation of the social and labour initiatives of students, acquisition of professional and managerial skills by young people, development of the personality and processes of labour, and the social adaptation of young people.

To determine the place of the student team in the educational process, the laws of the Russian Federation must provide a formal definition of the concept of the student team.

The definition of the concept of a student team under the laws of the Russian Federation will make it possible:

• to develop effective organisational forms of student teams and create a single informational and coordinating structure of the student team headquarters;
• to promptly orient student teams and their participants to meet the priority labour market demands;
• to ensure control over compliance with labour and civil legislation covering the activities of student teams and protection of the rights of their members;
• to form systemic organisational and legal approaches in the relations between the employers and the young people who are members of student teams;
• to support the participants of the patriotic movement of the student youth, to enhance civic and patriotic education of the youth;
• to form a pool of human resources for various sectors of the economy, to mobilise young people to tackle priority national tasks, provide occupational guidance, and adapt young people to the labour market;
• enable young people to learn additional trades, acquire seniority and work experience, and begin to earn and improve their economic status.
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The rapid development of the student team movement makes it imperative to seal their status in federal legislation, as the issues connected with the creation, activities, reorganisation, and/or liquidation of student teams belong to the area regulated by the Federal Law On Non-Governmental Associations.

The main idea of the draft law is to put a legal seal on the development of student teams.

The aims of developing the draft law are to improve legislation in the sphere of work with students and to establish the status of student teams.

The draft law, as distinct from the legal status of other non-governmental associations envisaged under the Federal Law On Non-Governmental Associations, determines that student teams are created for the purpose of temporary employment of students in secondary and higher professional education who have evinced a desire to work in various sectors of the economy with and/or without remuneration in their free time.

Under the Federal Law of April 19, 1991, No.1032-1 On the Employment of the Population in the Russian Federation, the government policy in promoting employment has the following goals:

• ensuring equal opportunities for all the citizens of the Russian Federation irrespective of nationality, gender, age, social status, political views, and attitude towards religion in exercising their right to voluntary work and free choice of employment;
• support of labour and entrepreneurial initiatives of citizens within the law, contributing to the development of their ability to work in production and creative areas;
• implementation of measures to assist citizens in finding a job;
• encouraging those employers who preserve and create new jobs, above all for citizens who have difficulty finding a job;
• synergy of the participants in the labour market and coordination of their actions in promoting employment; coordination of the activities of government bodies, trade unions, and other representative bodies, of employees and employers in developing and implementing employment measures.

The powers of the Russian Federation in promoting employment delegated to the government bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation include the provision of government services in organising temporary employment of minors ages 14-18 during vacation time, of unemployed citizens who have problems finding a job, and unemployed citizens ages 18-20 who are graduates of primary and secondary vocational training schools and are looking for their first job. Under Article 11 of the Federal Law, a non-governmental institution is a social association that has no membership and whose aim is to render a specific type of service that meets the interests of the participants and corresponds to the goals stated in the Association's charter. The aim of creating student teams meets the goals of creating such non-governmental associations as a social institution.

In connection with this, it would be reasonable for the draft law to limit the legal form of student teams to that of a non-governmental institution.

The forms of state support for student teams as non-governmental institutions are stipulated in Article 17 of the Federal Law.

4. Draft Federal Law On Introducing Amendments to Article 6 of the Federal Law On Fire Safety and Article 23.34 of the Federal Code On Administrative Offenses

The draft law regulates the relations arising during the course of state fire supervision (control) of compliance with fire safety rules in very important and high-security organisations by the officials of the structural subunits of special units of the Federal Fire Service.

The proposed amendments would include the structural subunits of the special units of the Federal Fire Service created for the prevention and control of fires in very important and high-security organisations among the bodies of government fire supervision, and vest the officials of such units with the rights and duties of government fire supervision.

The implementation of the draft law would create an effective system of state fire supervision at military industrial facilities and enhance the safety of very important and high-security organisations.

5. On Introducing Amendments to the Statute on the Ministry of Finance

The draft Government Decree On Introducing Amendments to the Statute On the Ministry of Finance, approved by Government Resolution No. 329 of June 30, 2004 in connection with the adoption of the Federal Law On Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in Connection with the Improvement of the Exercise of Powers by the Government of the Russian Federation, has been prepared by the Ministry of Finance pursuant to the directive of the Government of the Russian Federation No.SS-P16-6557 of October 31, 2008, paragraph 19 of the Plan of the Preparation of Draft Acts of the Government of the Russian Federation required to implement the Federal Law On Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in Connection with the Improvement of the Exercise of Powers by the Government of the Russian Federation.

Under paragraph 8, Article 84 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (as amended by the Federal Law On Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in Connection with the Improvement of the Exercise of Powers by the Government of the Russian Federation) the Single State Register of Taxpayers shall be maintained in accordance with the procedure established by the Ministry of Finance.

The law introduces amendments to Federal Law No.129-FZ of August 8, 2001 On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs (Article 85). Thus, the federal executive body authorised by the Government of the Russian Federation shall determine the procedure and the duration of custody by the registration bodies of documents contained in the Single State Register of Legal Entities and Single State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, as well as the procedure for the transfer of such documents into the permanent custody of state archives.

Pursuant to paragraph 1 of the Statute On the Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation approved by the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No.329 of June 30, 2004, the Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation is a federal executive body that works out government policy and provides legal regulation in the spheres of budget, tax, insurance, currency, bank activities, state debt, auditing, accounting and reporting, production, processing and sale of precious metals and gemstones, customs payments, determination of the customs value of goods, investment to finance the accumulated part of the labour pension, organisation and holding of lotteries, gambling, production and sale of protected printed matter, and financial support of the civil service.

In addition, pursuant to paragraph 2, Article 93 of the Law, the Ministry of Finance will approve the form of the application for entering into an agreement on mandatory insurance of the civil liability of the owners of vehicles, the form of the insurance policy of mandatory insurance of civil liability of the owners of vehicles, the form of the document containing data on the insurance of the civil liability of the owners of vehicles under the mandatory insurance contract.

The adoption of the draft law does not require the annulment, suspension, amendment, or adoption of any other legal acts.

March 4, 2009
Moscow

* The press releases of the Department of the Press Service and Information contain the materials submitted by the federal executive bodies for discussion at the meeting of the Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation.