Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 30.06.2004

Federal Constitutional Law No. 5-FKZ of June 28, 2004 on the Referendum in the Russian Federation

Specifies the procedure of preparation and holding of the referendum of the Russian Federation - national vote of the citizens of the Russian Federation enjoying the right to participate in the referendum on issues of state significance.

The Law extends the circle of subjects enjoying the right to put forward an initiative to arrange a referendum. Thus, together with the citizens of the Russian Federation numbering at least two million and the Constitutional Assembly, a referendum may be initiated by the federal bodies of state power if the issue of state significance or draft normative act must be put forward for a referendum in pursuance of the international treaty of the Russian Federation.

Created initiative group of citizens of the Russian Federation arranging the referendum must consist of regional subgroups formed in more than half of the subjects of the Russian Federation, with each regional subgroup numbering at least 100 participants enjoying the right of participation in the referendum and living permanently on the territory of the subject of the Russian Federation where this regional subgroup has been created.

To arrange the referendum, the President of the Russian Federation shall send the received documents to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation requesting to check the compliance of the initiative of the referendum on the suggested issue (issues) with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

The referendum is recognised to be a success if more than half of the referendum participants took part in the vote included in the lists. The Decision is considered to be adopted if more than half of the referendum participants having taken part in the vote voted in favour of the issue.

The Federal Constitutional Law is entered into force from the day of its official publication.

Direction of the Central Bank of Russia No. 1455-U of June 25, 2004 on the Amendments to the Regulation of the Bank of Russia No. 205-P of December 25, 2002 on the Rules of Accounting Work in Credit Organisations Located on the Territory of the Russian Federation

The chart of accounts of credit organisations is extended to include new passive Accounts 40912 "Transfers from the Russian Federation" and 40913 "Transfers from the Russian Federation by Non-Residents", as well as an active Account 90912 "Documents and Values Received from Non-Resident Banks for Expert Evaluation". Accounts 40912 and 40913 are used to register money transfers from the Russian Federation accepted from resident and non-resident natural persons without the opening of the bank account. Account 90912 is used to register documents and values received from non-resident banks for expert evaluation.

The Direction abandons active Account 91105 "Documents and Values Received from Non-Resident Banks for Expert Evaluation".

Changes the names of Accounts 202, 20203, 20210, 40909, 40910, 70103, 70203, 70205, 911, 91101, 91102, 91104 and 91204. Appropriate changes are introduced in the description of the mentioned accounts.

The Direction is entered into force from the day of its official publication in the Herald of the Bank of Russia. The text of the Direction has been published in the Herald of the Bank of Russia on June 30, 2004, No. 38.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on June 28, 2004. Reg. No. 5878.

Order of the Ministry of Taxation of the Russian Federation No. SAE-3-21/343@ of June 1, 2004 on the Invalidation of the Instruction of the State Tax Service of the Russian Federation No. 33 of June 8, 1995 on the Procedure of Calculation and Payment to the Budget of the Property Tax from Enterprises and Some of the Normative Legal Acts of the State Tax Service of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Taxation of the Russian Federation

Pursuant to the entry into force from January 1, 2004 of Chapter 30 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation "Property Tax from Organisations" invalidates the Instruction of the State Tax Service of Russia No. 33 of June 8, 1995 on the procedure of calculation and payment to the budget of the property tax from enterprises with amendments.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on June 25, 2004. Reg. No. 5876.

Direction of the Central Bank of Russia No. 1449-U of June 15, 2004 on the Amendments to the Direction of the Bank of Russia No. 1318-U of August 7, 2003 on the Building and the Amount of the Reserve for Operations of Credit Organisations with Residents of Off-Shore Zones

Specifies the particulars of building of the reserve for the guarantees (bank guarantees) granted by the residents of off-shore zones. As an object of reservation under a guarantee is both a guarantee where a resident of the off-shore zone acts as a debtor and a guarantee where he acts as a creditor. If the credit organisation acts as a guarantor for an operation where the principal (debtor) and the beneficiary (creditor) are residents of off-shore zones, the reserve should be built for the resident of the off-shore zone (principal (debtor) or beneficiary (creditor)) where the risk is estimated as the highest one.

The Direction specifies the duty of credit organisations to build reserves for operations with residents of off-shore zones under a concluded brokerage contact.

The Direction is entered into force 10 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 June 25, 2004. Reg. No. 5875.

Order of the Ministry of Taxation of the Russian Federation No. SAE-3-21/261@ of April 5, 2004 on the Endorsement of the Form of Information on the Received License (Permission) for the Use of Objects of Fauna, Amounts of the Fee for the Use of Objects of Fauna Due for Payment and Amounts of the Actually Paid Fee

Pursuant to Chapter 25.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation "Fees for the Use of Objects of Fauna and for the Use of Objects of Water Biological Resources" endorses the form of information on the received license (permission) for the use of objects of fauna, amounts of the fee for the use of objects of fauna due for payment and amounts of actually paid fee. Besides, provides recommendations for the filling of the mentioned form.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on June 25, 2004. Reg. No. 5874.

Order of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation No. 168 of June 3, 2004 on the Endorsement of the Form of the Request for the Conferment of the Citizenship of the Russian Federation

Endorses the form of the request for the conferment of the citizenship of the Russian Federation granted to servicemen out of citizens of the former USSR states undergoing contact service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops, military formations and bodies. The period of validity of the request is 3 months form the day of issue.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on June 24, 2004. Reg. No. 5871.

Order of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation No. 640 of June 7, 2004 on the Endorsement of the Instruction on the Collection of the Customs Fees for the Customs Registration

Builds a uniform list of the reasons of exemption from the customs fees for the customs registration. In particular, customs fees are not collected for the registration of cars classified under Headings 8702 and 8703 of the Foreign-Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation imported temporarily by natural persons for personal use for up to 2 months inclusive, as well as the mentioned cars exported for personal use by natural persons travelling in the mentioned transport vehicles.

According to the common rule, the fees for the customs registration of commodities are collected in the currency of the Russian Federation in the amount of 0.1% of the customs cost of commodities. In addition, the fee in the foreign currency is also collected in the amount of 0.05% of the customs cost of commodities at the rate of the Bank of Russia. The Order lists the categories of commodities subject to only the main fee in the amount of 0.1% (i.e. without the additional fee in the amount of 0.05%).

Amounts of the customs fees for the registration of cars classified under Headings 8702 and 8703 of the Foreign-Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation, including the prolongation of the temporary import, and moved by natural persons for personal use have not changed (EUR 5, however, not more than 0.1% of the customs cost of the car).

The Order remains in force until December 31, 2004.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on June 24, 2004. Reg. No. 5870.

Direction of the Central Bank of Russia No. 1456-U of June 25, 2004

Beginning with the regulation of the amount of obligatory reserves of credit organisations for July 2004 (as of August 1, 2004) specifies the amounts of the new obligatory reserves. The normative of obligatory reserves for obligations of credit organisations to non-resident banks in the currency of the Russian Federation and the foreign currency is fixed in the amount of 2%. The normative of obligatory reserves for obligations to natural persons in the currency of the Russian Federation - in the amount of 7%.

The normative of obligatory reserves for other obligations of credit organisations in the currency of the Russian Federation and obligations in foreign currencies - in the amount of 7%.

A 0.2 coefficient is fixed for the estimation of the average value of obligatory reserves.

Credit organisations are permitted to calculate independently the average value of obligatory reserves for each subsequent equalisation period using the mentioned equalisation factor.

Operative Direction of the Central Bank of Russia No. 70-T of June 23, 2004 on the Typical Bank Risks

A bank risk is implied to be an inherent in the banking activities opportunity (possibility) of losses of the credit organisation and/or impaired liquidity because of the unfavourable events pertaining to internal factors (complexity of the organisational structure, level of qualification of employees, organisational changes, employee turnover etc.) and/or external factors (change of the economic conditions of operation of the credit organisation, applied technologies etc.). The typical bank risks include credit, country-specific, market (including the capital, currency and interest risks), operation, legal, image, strategic risks and liquidity risks.