The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the Government Presidium meeting on February 4, 2010:
1. Approving technical safety regulations for gas-powered equipment
The draft was submitted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The requirements of the Regulations apply to gas-powered equipment (including automatic block burners) manufactured for distribution across Russia and intended for heating, hot water and cooking. They do not apply to gas-powered equipment used in production processes, or gas as an engine fuel.
The Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service (Rostekhnadzor) will be vested with authority to oversee these regulations with respect to industrial applications and with the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rostekhregulirovanie) with respect to other gas-powered equipment.
The Technical Regulations establish forms, plans and procedures for compliance declaration and mandatory certification; it lists the technical documents required for such compliance declaration and mandatory certification and establishes compliance declaration and mandatory certification deadlines; requirements for prototype submission; as well as requirements for standard production equipment to be certified. In addition, the Technical Regulations require an applicant to inform a certifying authority of changes made in production units and in the engineering specifications of the equipment produced, and entitles the certifying authority to take appropriate measures following the assessment of these changes.
Furthermore, the Technical Regulations set requirements for equipment delivered as a complete set, regarding specifications, descriptions and parameters. The Technical Regulations ban the national distribution of equipment without a market circulation serial number.
The Technical Regulations will be effective January 1, 2011.
The Technical Regulations have been drafted to protect the health and safety of the public, the property of individuals and companies, as well as state and municipal property, to protect the environment, to protect consumers, and to promote energy efficiency.
The Technical Regulations contain the minimum mandatory requirements for gas-powered equipment, which must be formulated, adopted, applied and observed, with due account taken of the risk of damage. The following hazards were taken into consideration: explosion, fire, carbon monoxide poisoning, environmental pollution, excess heat impact, electric shock, and the danger of the mechanical destruction of the equipment.
In view of the potential risks, an inspection process will be introduced to ensure that gas-powered equipment meets the requirements of the Technical Regulations and the directives of the state control (supervision) bodies. There are two basic forms of compliance confirmation: a declaration of compliance and mandatory certification.
A distinctive feature of the Technical Regulations is the significant increase in the number of equipment categories subject to a compliance declaration, relative to the list of products specified in the government resolution.
The Technical Regulations, when adopted, will align regulatory legal acts and regulatory documents with the provisions of the Federal Law On Technical Regulation and also make the work of regulators and the agencies concerned with certification more effective.
To observe obligatory requirements for gas-powered equipment by the Technical Regulations, national standards (codes of rules) may be applied on a voluntary basis. The list is normally approved and published by Rostekhregulirovanie.
2. Approving technical safety regulations for equipment operating in explosive environments
The draft was submitted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The proposed Technical Regulations set minimum requirements for equipment operating in explosive environments during all stages of its production and use; classifies explosive zones, explosive protection levels, protection standards and establish a certification procedure. They also contain requirements for equipment packaging and markings.
State monitoring (supervision) authority of the Technical Regulations requirements will be vested with Rostekhnadzor and Rostekhregulirovanie.
The Technical Regulations were prompted by the need to align Russian equipment specifications with international standards.
The Technical Regulations, when implemented, will have a positive impact on equipment safety; they will bridge the gap between international, European and Russian equipment standards; simplify the procedures for customs clearance; reduce the number of obligatory documents used in the design, manufacture and use of the equipment in explosive environments; and improve the economic and investment climate as well as the competitiveness of domestically-manufactured products.
3. Amending certain acts of the Government of the Russian Federation following the adoption of the Federal Law On Anti-Corruption Examination of Regulatory Legal Acts and Their Drafts
The draft was submitted by the Ministry of Justice.
The draft aims to bring regulatory legal acts of the government in line with the provisions of the Federal Law On Anti-Corruption Examination of Regulatory Legal Acts and Their Drafts, including methods to determine the order and time frame of anti-corruption examination of the drafts of regulatory legal acts.
The draft proposes amendments to the following resolutions: On Additional Functions for the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation; On Approving the Rules for Drafting Regulatory Legal Acts by Executive Federal Bodies and Their State Registration; On Approving the Regulation on Keeping the Federal Register of Regulatory Legal Acts by Entities of the Russian Federation; On Approving the Basic Requirements of the Concept of Federal Laws and Their Drafting; On the Regulation of the Government of the Russian Federation and the Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation; On Approving the Standard Regulation about the Inner Organisation of Executive Federal Bodies; and On Measures to Improve the Legislative Activity of the Government of the Russian Federation.
4. The draft of the Federal Law On Amending Article 582 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Part Two)
The draft was submitted by the Ministry of Economic Development.
The current wording of Article 582 of the Civil Code states that a donation is a gift or the cost-free ownership transfer of a thing or a right of ownership for public use.
At the same time, the current wording of Article 5 of the Federal Law On Charity and Charities indicates that apart from the cost-free ownership transfer of a thing or a right, a charity donation can be effected in the form of a free performance of work or free rendering of services by benefactors that are incorporated bodies.
According to Clause 2 of Article 3 of the Civil Code, the norms of civil law contained in other laws must correlate with the Civil Code, which in turn requires amending the concept "donation" ("charity donation") contained in the Federal Law On Charity and Charities.
At the same time, bearing in mind that the free performance of work and services for charity purposes in practice corresponds to the notion "donation," it appears advisable to make the appropriate amendments to Article 582 of the Civil Code.
In view of the fact that under Clause 2 of Article 251 of the Tax Code, when the profit tax base is determined, no deduction is provided for donations to maintain not-for-profit organisations and their statutory activity, the notation introduced in the text of the Civil Code by the draft will extend the appropriate standards of tax legislation to free assistance granted to not-for-profit organisations in the form of work or services.
The draft aims to expand the applicable legislation to create favourable conditions for not-for-profit organisations and for charity by legislatively regulating the inclusion of free performance of work or free rendering of services into the notion of a "donation."
5. The draft of the Federal Law On Ratification of the Protocol Amending the January 12, 2007 Agreement Between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Belarus on Regulation of Trade and Economic Cooperation in the Export of Crude Oil and Refined Products
The draft was submitted by the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Energy.
The protocol amending the January 12, 2007 agreement was signed to promote and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in oil supplies from Russia to Belarus and its transit from Russia across Belarus, and further, following the expiration on December 31, 2009 of the coefficient for the crude oil export customs rate as established by this agreement.
The protocol stipulates that crude oil transported from Russia at the request of a competent authority of Belarus, depending on the annual volume of Belarusian consumption of Russian oil as determined by competent authorities from both parties, is not subject to customs duties, while crude oil, exported from Russia over and above the Russian quota supplied under no-duty conditions, is subject to an export custom duty as determined by the rates established by Russian Federation legislation.
The draft, when implemented, will require no additional expenses from the federal budget and will not affect bodies of state authority in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation or local government bodies.
6. Amending certain acts of the Government of the Russian Federation regarding customs
The draft resolutions On Amending Certain Acts of the Government of the Russian Federation and On Amending the Regulation on the Federal Customs Service were submitted by the Federal Customs Service.
The draft On Amending Certain Acts of the Government of the Russian Federation calls for changes in the Regulation on the Federal Customs Service and the Regulation on the Ministry of Finance, as well as in the government resolution On Excise Stamps for Wines and Spirits, and aims to give more force to Federal Laws No. 103-FZ, dated June 26, 2008, On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Following Improvements in Customs Administration and No. 207-FZ, dated July 24, 2009, On Amending the Customs Code of the Russian Federation.
The Federal Law On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Following Improvements in Customs Administration transferred the authority of the Ministry of Economic Development to adopt regulatory legal acts on customs to the Federal Customs Service. It also redistributed the authority of the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Customs Service concerning legislative regulation of customs payments and determination of the customs value of goods.
The Federal Law On Amending the Customs Code of the Russian Federation made changes to the authority of the Federal Customs Service and the Ministry of Finance concerning customs payments.
The draft of the government resolution On Amending the Regulation on the Federal Customs Service provides for changes in the Regulation on the Federal Customs Service in the part concerned with giving its head the right to form a gifts and awards purse (including small arms and bladed weapons) for decorating personnel of customs authorities and other persons helping to fulfil the responsibilities imposed on customs bodies.
Moscow,
February 3, 2010
* Press releases by the Department of Press Service and Information contain the materials submitted by the executive federal bodies for discussion by the Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation.
