Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 16.03.2005

Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of March 15, 2005 on the Case of Constitutionality of Provisions of Item 2 of Article 278 and Article 279 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation and Paragraph 2 of Item 4 of Article 69 of the Federal Law on Joint-Stock Companies Pursuant to the Requests of the Volkhovsky City Court of the Leningrad Province, Oktyabrsky Regional Court of the City of Stavropol and Appeals of a Number of Citizens

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognised as not contradicting the Constitution of the Russian Federation provisions of Item 2 of Article 278 of the Labour Code and Paragraph 2 of Item 4 of Article 69 of the Federal Law on joint-stock companies permitting to discontinue the labour contract with the head of the organisation pursuant to the decision on the early discontinuation of the labour contract taken by the authorised body of the legal entity, including the board of directors (supervisory board) of the joint-stock company, or the owner of the property of the organisation, or the person (body) authorised by the owner. The mentioned provisions imply that discontinuation of the labour contract in the given case is not a measure of legal liability not permitted without a fair compensation, the amount being defined in the labour contract, i.e. agreement between the parties, or court ruling in case of a dispute. The revealed constitutional and legal meaning of the mentioned norms is obligato ry to all and excludes any other interpretation of them in judicial practice.

Not complying with the Constitution of the Russian Federation is recognised to be Article 279 of the Labour Code stating that in case of a discontinuation of the labour contract with the head of the organisation before the expiry of its effective term at the decision of the authorised body or the owner in the absence of guilty activities (failure to act) on the part of the head of the organisation, he shall be entitled for a compensation for the early discontinuation of the labour contract with him in the amount specified in the labour contract. The given Article is in violation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation where it permits for an early discontinuation of the labour contract with the head of the organisation without a fair compensation without specifying the guaranteed minimum amount of compensation due to the head of the organisation in the mentioned case. Before the necessary changes are introduced in the legislation, the mentioned guaranteed minimum amount of compensation may not be lower than the one envisaged in the actual legislation for similar situations of discontinuation of the labour contract with the head of the organisation because of the circumstances beyond his control.

Direction of the Central Bank of Russia No. 1550-U of February 18, 2005 on the Amendments to the Instruction of the Bank of Russia No. 112-I of March 31, 2004 on the Obligatory Normatives for Credit Organisations Issuing Mortgage Coverage Bonds

The Instruction excludes references to the general liquidity normative N5.

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 March 14, 2005. Reg. No. 6394.

Direction of the Central Bank of Russia No. 1553-U of February 18, 2005 on the Amendment to the Regulation of the Bank of Russia No. 191-P of July 30, 2002 on the Consolidated Reports

The amendments are introduced in the commentaries to the estimate of obligatory normatives on the basis of consolidated reports. According to the amendments, liquidity normatives (N2-N4, N14) of the group must not be calculated and reported to the Bank of Russia. The Direction excludes a reference to the liquidity normative (N5).

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 March 14, 2005. Reg. No. 6393.

Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 23n of February 17, 2005 on the Amendment to Appendix 2 to the Instruction on the Procedure of Filling of the Tax Declaration for the Uniform Imputed Income Tax for Individual Types of Activities Endorsed by the Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 96n of November 1, 2004

Provides a new wording for the table of codes of the types of entrepreneurial activities and the value of basic profitability per unit of physical indicator.

The Order shall apply beginning with the estimates for the I quarter of 2005.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on March 14, 2005. Reg. No. 6392.

Direction of the Central Bank of Russia No. 1549-U of February 18, 2005 on the Amendments to the Instruction of the Bank of Russia No. 110-I of January 16, 2004 on the Bank's Obligatory Normatives

Excludes the bank's general liquidity normative (N5) regulating (restricting) the general risk of loosing liquidity by the bank and defining the minimum correlation of liquidity assets to the total bank assets.

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 March 14, 2005. Reg. No. 6391.

Order of the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication of the Russian Federation No. 24 of March 4, 2005 on the Organisation of Work to License Activities in the Sphere of Communication Services

The Federal Service of Enforcement in the Sphere of Communication is ordered to organise the work in the licensing of activities in the sphere of communication services.

Endorses the blank form of the license of the Federal Service of Enforcement in the Sphere of Communication.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on March 11, 2005. Reg. No. 6390.

Direction of the Central Bank of Russia No. 1555-U of February 18, 2005 on the Amendment to the Regulation of the Bank of Russia No. 241-P of November 26, 2003 on the Interim Administration in Charge of the Management of the Credit Organisation

Specifies that the balance cost of the assets of the credit organisation is determined according to the information of Line 11 of Column 3 of the Reporting Form 0409806 "Accounting Balance Report (Published Form)" of Appendix 1 to the Direction of the Bank of Russia No. 1376-U of January 16, 2004. Earlier, the balance cost of the assets of the credit organisation was determined as a symbol "A" value used for the calculation of the obligatory normative of general liquidity (N5).

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 March 11, 2005. Reg. No. 6387.

Regulation of the Federal Fund of Obligatory Medical Insurance on the Procedure of Allocation of Subsidies for Obligatory Medical Insurance for Non-Working Population (Children) from the Resources of the Federal Fund of Obligatory Medical Insurance (Endorsed by the Management Board of the Federal Fund of Obligatory Medical Insurance on December 25, 2004, No. 2A/2a)

Expenses for obligatory medical insurance for non-working population (children) are allocated from the resources envisaged for these purposes in the item of the budget of the Federal Fund of Obligatory Medical Insurance for the current fiscal year in accordance with the functional classification of expenses of the budgets of the Russian Federation. Distribution of the subsidies to territorial funds is arranged proceeding form the average listed number of children insured under the obligatory medical insurance in the subject of the Russian Federation, taking into account the level of the budget security of the subject of the Russian Federation and the coefficient of increase of the cost of the conditional unit of the budget services. Application for the subsidy is submitted by the territorial fund until January 30 of the appropriate year according to the specimen specified by the Federal Fund of Obligatory Medical Insurance. The prerequisite for the granting of the subsidy is the payment of insurance contribut ions for obligatory medical insurance for non-working population by the regional bodies of executive power of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on March 11, 2005. Reg. No. 6384.