Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 7.04.2005

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 179 of April 4, 2005 on the Amendments to the Decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 587 of August 14, 1992 and No. 814 of July 21, 1998

Long-barrel service arms used by non-state (private) guard services, as well as the short-barrel arms looking like combat submachine guns must be painted in special colours from March 1, 2006. The colour of the paint and the places of its location on the arms are defined by the producer enterprise in coordination with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

The fire arms earlier purchased by non-state (private) guard enterprises not included in the list of the types of arms of guardsmen may be used by them until March 1, 2006.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 178 of April 4, 2005 on the Non-Application of the Rates of the Import Customs Duties for Soy Beans, Fish Meal and Individual Types of Maize

The rates of import customs duties specified in the Customs Tariff of the Russian Federation shall not apply for sowing soy beans and other (codes according to the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation 1201 00 100 0, 1201 00 900 0), meals and flours and granules of fish or crustaceans, molluscs or other water invertebrates (code according to the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation 2301 20 000 0) and other maize (code according to the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation 1005 90 000 0).

The Decision is entered into force one month after the day of its official publication.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 177 of April 4, 2005 on the Endorsement of the Rate of the Import Customs Duty for Some Types of Furniture and Mounting Fittings

The rate of the import customs duty for furniture and mounting fittings and similar other items of non-precious metals (code according to the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation 8302 42 900 0) is reduced from 15% to 5% of the customs cost. The new rate shall apply for 9 months.

The Decision is entered into force one month after the day of its official publication.

Order of the Federal Service for Tariff Rates No. 22-e/5 of February 15, 2005 on the Endorsement of the Methodology Directions on the Determination of the Amount of Payment for Connection to Power-Supply Networks for Production Purposes

Provides the main provisions on the calculation of the amount of payment for the connection for production purposes of power consuming devices (power plants) of legal entities and natural persons to electric networks of organisations possessing objects of electric networks on the proprietary basis or on other legal grounds. The endorsed Methodology Directions are intended for use by the Federal Service for Tariff Rates of Russia and network organisations.

The payment for the connection for production purposes is collected from consumers of electric power and owners of generator plants newly connected to electric networks or expanding available connections, as well as electric network organisations possessing objects of electric networks on the proprietary basis or on other legal grounds. The payment for the connection for production purposes is collected once.

Natural persons applying for connection to consume electric power for communal and household needs, with connected power rating not greater than 15 kW inclusive, shall pay for the works to develop technical specification in the amount not greater than 0.5 minimum amount of labour remuneration, for other works - in the amount not greater than 5 minimum amounts of labour remuneration. All other applicants (including the natural persons with connected power rating greater than 15 kW) shall pay for the connection in the amount calculated according to the provided formulas.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on April 1, 2005. Reg. No. 6462.

Letter of the Department of the Tax and Customs Tariff Policy of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 03-05-01-04/59 of March 18, 2005 on the Incomes Tax from Natural Persons for the Excess Daily Allowance

Explains that pursuant to the Decision of the Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation No. 16141/04 of January 26, 2005 stating that the daily allowance paid out within the norms specified in internal documents of the organisation is exempted from the incomes tax from natural persons, there is not need to recalculate the amounts of the incomes tax from natural persons for the period from 2002 to 2004 collected from the daily allowance in excess of Rbl 100 a day.