Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 12.10.2005

Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 109n of August 30, 2005 on the Endorsement of the Procedure for Conveying to the Insured the Form of the Application for the Choice of Investment Portfolio (Management Company) and Its Filling Instruction

The form of the application for the choice of investment portfolio (management company) and its filling instruction shall be conveyed annually to the insured through the Pension Fund, its territorial body and organisations where the Pension Fund has agreements on mutual certification of signatures no later than September 1 current year.

Territorial bodies of the Pension Fund and organisations where there are agreements on mutual certification of signatures may not collect payment for the conveyed forms of applications and their filling instructions to the insured.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on October 11, 2005. Reg. No. 7065.

Letter of the Central Bank of Russia No. 124-T of October 3, 2005 on the Fixing of the Rouble Equivalents for the Figures Envisaged in the Direction of the Bank of Russia No. 1346-U of December 1, 2003

For the VI quarter of 2005, the Bank of Russia specified that the rouble equivalent of the registered capital for the created banks regardless of the share of participation of the foreign capital in them as of the day of submission of the documents to the territorial institution of the Bank of Russia must be at least Rbl 171,905,500.

The same equivalents of the minimum amount of the registered capital are specified for the actual credit organisations requesting the general license for bank operations and for non-bank credit organisations requesting the status of a bank.

The rouble equivalent of the registered capital for the created non-bank credit organisations as of the day of submission of the documents to the territorial institution of the Bank of Russia must be at least Rbl 17,190,050.

The previous rouble equivalents of the registered capital specified for the III quarter of 2005 in the Letter of the Bank of Russia No. 94-T of July 4, 2005 amounted to Rbl 172,620,500 and Rbl 17,262,050 respectively.

Information Letter of the Central Bank of Russia No. 33 of September 30, 2005 "Summary of the Practice of Application of the Normative Acts of the Bank of Russia on Currency Control"

The electronic database of the currency operations maintained by the authorised bank for the accounts of their clients in compliance with the Instruction of the Bank of Russia No. 117-I of June 15, 2004 does not include information on own currency operations of the authorised bank.

Payments in the currency of the Russian Federation between residents and non-residents in operations with external securities using the bank account of the resident do not imply any restrictions.

Letter of the Federal Tax Service No. BE-6-09/795@ of September 26, 2005 on the Explanatory Measures of the Need to Supplement Information of the Joint State Register of Legal Entities and the Joint State Register of Independent Entrepreneurs with OKVED Codes to be Carried out by the Bodies in Charge of Registration

Reports that from January 1, 2004, information of the Joint State Register of Legal Entities and the Joint State Register of Independent Entrepreneurs must include OKVED codes. However, the legislation on the state registration does not envisage the duty of the legal entities, independent entrepreneurs and peasant (farmers') enterprises to submit to the body in charge of registration information on the types of economic activities if it is not available in the Joint State Register of Legal Entities and the Joint State Register of Independent Entrepreneurs. Also, there is not duty of the mentioned entities to report to the body in charge of registration information on the changes of OKVED codes.

Entry of information on OKVED codes to the Joint State Register of Legal Entities and the Joint State Register of Independent Entrepreneurs is arranged on the basis of applications drawn up to forms N Р14001, N Р24001 and N Р24002 and submitted by applicants to the body in charge of registration. Declarations, reports, other documents available with the bodies in charge of registration (tax bodies) may not serve as grounds to include information on OKVED codes in the Joint State Register of Legal Entities and the Joint State Register of Independent Entrepreneurs.

Letter of the Department of the Tax and Customs Tariff Policy of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 03-04-11/229 of September 13, 2005

Operations of issue of certificates of available resources on accounts by the bank should be regarded as operations of keeping of bank accounts of organisations and natural persons by the banks. Therefore, bank services of issue of certificates of available resources on client accounts, including the use of the means of communication (SMS messages), are exempted from the value added tax.