Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 29.12.2003

Federal Law No. 187-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Ratification of the Framework Agreement on the Multilateral Nuclear Environment Program in the Russian Federation and of the Protocol on Claims, Court Examination and Exemption from Liability to the Framework Agreement on the Multilateral Nuclear Environment Program in the Russian Federation

Ratifies the Framework Agreement and the Protocol on claims, court examination and exemption from liability to it signed in Stockholm on May 21, 2003.
The Federal Law is entered into force from the day of its official publication.

Federal Law No. 185-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Amendments to the Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Pertaining to the Improvement of the Procedures of State Registration of Legal Entities and Independent Entrepreneurs

The amendments are aimed at the implementation of the "single window" principle in the procedures of state registration of legal entities and independent entrepreneurs, their registration for taxation purposes and registration as insurants in the state non-budgetary funds. The mentioned principle envisages a single visit of the legal entity or independent entrepreneur to the body in charge of the registration, the functions being implemented by the Ministry of Taxation of Russia, entry of information of the mentioned persons in the Uniform State Register of Legal Entities or the Uniform State Register of Independent Entrepreneurs, their simultaneous registration in the tax body and handing out within 5 days of the documents of state registration and registration in the tax bodies. On the basis of the mentioned documents, an economic subject acquires the right to commit legally significant deeds and opens current accounts in the banks. Registration of legal entities and independent entrepreneurs as insurants i s carried out on the basis of information of the uniform state registers received by the bodies of state non-budgetary funds from the bodies in charge of the registration without a direct visit of the person to the mentioned funds.
Appropriate changes are introduced in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Laws on the amendments to Part 1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, on the medical insurance of the citizens of the Russian Federation, on the obligatory insurance against industrial accidents and occupational diseases, on the fundamentals of obligatory social insurance, on the state registration of legal entities and independent entrepreneurs, on the obligatory pension insurance in the Russian Federation, on the licensing of individual types of activities, on the banks and banking activities.
The Federal Law is entered into force from January 1, 2004.

Federal Law No. 184-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Amendments to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation Pertaining to the Creation of the Stabilisation Fund of the Russian Federation

The Budget Code is extended to include Chapter 13.1 "Stabilisation Fund of the Russian Federation" defining the mechanism of building and use of the resources of this Fund. The Fund is implied to be the part of the resources of the federal budget accumulated because of the surplus of prices for oil over the basic price for oil to be registered, managed and used separately for the purposes of ensuring a balanced federal budget when the price for oil is reduced below the basic one.
The price for oil is implied to be the price for the Urals raw oil. The basic price for oil is implied to be the price for the Urals raw oil equivalent to USD 146 per ton (USD 20 per barrel).
The main sources of building of the Stabilisation Fund include the incomes directly depending on the price for oil: export customs duties for oil, commodities of oil, as well as the tax on the extraction of mineral resources (oil). When the price for oil is greater than the mentioned basic price, the part of these incomes stipulated by the favourable foreign trade situation is included in the Stabilisation Fund. When the price for oil falls below the basic one, the earlier accumulated resources of the Stabilisation Fund may be used to finance the deficit of the federal budget.
The Federal Law is entered into force from January 1, 2004.

Federal Law No. 183-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Amendment to Article 3 of the Law of the Russian Federation on the Tax on Operations with Securities

The rate of the tax on operations with securities is reduced from 0.8% to 0.2% of the nominal amount of the issue. The amount of the tax may not be greater than Rbl 100,000.
The Federal Law is entered into force from January 1, 2004.

Federal Law No. 182-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Amendments to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

In cases of liquidation of the banks and other credit institutions attracting the resources of citizens, satisfaction of claims applies as the first priority not only to the citizens being the creditors of banks or other credit institutions attracting resources of citizens, but also to the claims of the organisation implementing the functions in obligatory insurance of the deposits pertaining to the paying out of the reimbursement under the deposits in compliance with the Law on insurance of the deposits of citizens in the banks.
The Federal Law is entered into force from the day of its official publication.

Federal Law No. 181-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Amendments to the Federal Law on the Banks and Banking Activities

The amendments are stipulated by the adoption of the Federal Law on insurance of the deposits of natural persons in the banks of the Russian Federation. The Law specifies that the organisation implementing the functions of obligatory insurance of the deposits shall guarantee the secrecy of operations, accounts and deposits of its clients and correspondents. Such organisation may not disclose information on accounts, deposits, as well as information on particular deals and operations from the reports of credit organisations received by them as a result of execution of the license, enforcement and control functions, except for the cases envisaged in the Federal Laws. Such organisation may not disclose to third parties information obtained in compliance with the Federal Laws on insurance of the deposits of natural persons in the banks of the Russian Federation.
The Law specifies that an obligatory prerequisite for the adoption of the deposits of natural persons by credit organisations is not only the presence of the license of the Bank of Russia, but also participation in the system of obligatory insurance of the deposits of natural persons in the banks and registration in the organisation implementing the functions in obligatory insurance of the deposits.
The Law omits the norm stating that preservation and return of the deposits of the natural persons in the banks created by the state and the banks with more than 50% of the voting stocks (shares) in the registered capital belonging to the state is guaranteed by the state.
The Federal Law is entered into force from the day of its official publication.

Federal Law No. 180-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Amendment to Article 69 of the Federal Law on the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia)

The sphere of reference of the Bank of Russia now does not include the determination of the procedure of guarantee of return of the deposits of citizens in compliance with the Federal Laws.
The Federal Law is entered into force from the day of its official publication.

Federal Law No. 179-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Amendment to Article 26 of the Federal Law on Non-Commercial Organisations

Specifies that as the sources of building of the property of the state corporation may serve regular and/or lumpsum receipts (contributions) from legal entities obliged to make such contributions under the federal law.

Federal Law No. 178-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Amendments to Articles 251 and 291 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation

In the determination of the taxable base for the profit tax, one should not take into account the incomes in the form of insurance contributions of the banks in the Deposit Insurance Fund in compliance with the Federal Law on insurance of the deposits of natural persons in the banks of the Russian Federation. The given incomes are qualified as the property obtained in the framework of tied financing.
The amounts of insurance contributions of the banks specified in compliance with the Federal Law on insurance of the deposits of natural persons in the banks of the Russian Federation are qualified as expenses of banking activities.
The Federal Law is entered into force no sooner than one month after the day of its official publication and no sooner than the 1st of the subsequent tax period for the profit tax from organisations.

Federal Law No. 177-FZ of December 23, 2003 on the Insurance of the Deposits of Natural Persons in the Banks of the Russian Federation

Specifies the legal, financial and organisational fundamentals of the functioning of the system of obligatory insurance of the deposits of natural persons in the banks of the Russian Federation, sphere of reference, procedure of forming and activities of the organisation in charge of the functions of the obligatory insurance of the deposits, as well as the procedure of paying out of the compensations under the deposits.
The Law also regulates the relations between the banks of the Russian Federation, the Deposit Insurance Agency, the Bank of Russia and the bodies of executive power of the Russian Federation in the sphere of relations in obligatory insurance of the deposits of natural persons in the banks.
The Law regulates the relations in the creation and functioning of the system of insurance of the deposits, building and use of its monetary fund, paying out of compensations under the deposits in insured cases, as well as relations pertaining to the implementation of the state control over the functioning of the system of insurance of the deposits and other relations in the given sphere.
Insurance of the deposits does not require conclusion of the insurance contract by the depositors. Reimbursement under the deposits is paid out to the depositor in the amount of 100% of the amount of the deposit in the bank where the insured case occurred, however, not greater than Rbl 100,000.
The banks possessing the permission of the Bank of Russia as of the day of entry into force of the Federal Law are registered in the system of insurance of the deposits by entering them in the Register of the Banks by the Agency on the basis of the notification of the Bank of Russia.
The Federal Law is entered into force from the day of its official publication.

Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2003 on the Case of Constitutionality of Individual Provisions of Parts 1 and 2 of Article 118 of the Criminal Execution Code of the Russian Federation Pursuant to the Appeal of Z.R.Shengelaya

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognised the provisions of Part 1 and Item "d" of Part 2 of Article 118 of the Criminal Execution Code of the Russian Federation as not contradicting the Constitution of the Russian Federation since the essence of these provisions does not imply that the restrictions imposed by them apply to the meetings of the convicts detained in the isolation wards with lawyers and other persons granting legal aid and do not prevent from getting quality legal aid.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 781 of December 24, 2003 on the Non-Application of the Rate of the Import Customs Duty for Electric Power

The rate of the import customs duty endorsed by the Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 830 of November 30, 2001 does not apply to electric power (code according to the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation 2716 00 000 0).
The Decision is entered into force one month after the day of its official publication for 9 months.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 778 of December 24, 2003 on the Measures to Protect Russian Producers of Ball Bearings

Institutes for 3 years a special import duty for the commodities classified under the code of the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation 8482 10 900 1 in the amount of EUR 0.35 per kg of the commodity weight without the weight of the packing materials and the packing containers. The mentioned duty does not apply to commodities originating in the Republic of Belarus except for the cases when this commodity is released for free circulation in the Republic of Belarus without collection of the special duty or without the transfer according to the adopted procedure of the paid amounts of this duty to the federal budget.
The Decision is entered into force one months after the day of its official publication.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 774 of December 23, 2003 on the Amendments to the Customs Tariff of the Russian Federation

Adjusts the codes and headings 8482 of the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation "Roller and Ball Bearings".
Specifies the rates of the import duties for the mentioned commodities with the free-on-the-border-of-the-country-of-import cost not greater than EUR 2.2 per kg of the gross weight - in the amount of 10% of the customs cost. In the mentioned subheading, the term "gross weight" means the total weight of the commodity with all kinds of packing materials and packing containers preserving it during storage and transportation. The total weight of the commodity does not include the weight of the packing materials or containers evidently fit for repeated use.
The Decision is entered into force one month after the day of its official publication.

Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 117n of December 22, 2003 on the Work-Books

Endorses the specimens of the work-book and the insert in the work-book, as well as the procedure of providing employers with the blank work-books and the insert in it.
Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on December 24, 2003. Reg. No. 5356.

Direction of the Central Bank of Russia No. 1346-U of December 1, 2003 on the Minimum Amount of the Registered Capital for the Created Credit Organisations, Amount of Own Resources (Capital) for the Operating Credit Organisations As a Prerequisite for the Creation and/or Opening of Their Branches on the Territory of a Foreign State, Amount of Own Resources (Capital) for Non-Banking Credit Organisations Wishing to Obtain the Status of a Bank

The minimum amount of the registered capital for the created banks, regardless of the share of participation of foreign capital in them, as of the day of submission of the documents to the territorial institution of the Bank of Russia must be equivalent to EUR 5 million.
The amount of own resources (capital) for the operating credit organisations as a prerequisite for the creation and/or opening of their branches on the territory of a foreign state as of the 1st of the month preceding the day of submission of the documents to the territorial institution of the Bank of Russia must be at least EUR 5 million equivalent.
The Direction is entered into force 90 days after the day of its official publication in the Herald of the Bank of Russia.
Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on December 23, 2003. Reg. No. 5355.