Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 5.07.2005

Federal Law No. 83-FZ of July 2, 2005 on the Amendments to the Federal Law on the State Registration of Legal Entities and Independent Entrepreneurs and to Article 49 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

The amendments provide for an exclusion as soon as possible of inoperative ("dead") legal entities failing to carry out any activities that do not possess any property, management bodies and employees from the Joint State Register of Legal Entities while providing necessary guarantees of protection of rights and interests of their founders (participants), creditors and other interested parties.

The Law envisages exclusion of an inoperative legal entity from the Joint State Register of Legal Entities at the decision of the body in charger of the registration while observing the administrative procedure with subsequent court control.

Specifies the criteria permitting to identify legal entities failing to carry out any activities: failure to present within the most recent twelve months any reporting documents envisaged in the legislation on taxes and fees and absence of operations on at least one bank account within the most recent twelve months.

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

Federal Law No. 82-FZ of July 2, 2005 on the Amendments to the Code of Administrative Violations of the Russian Federation

Unauthorised collection, damage or destruction of the ground litter, moss, lichens or the bog cover implies an administrative fine (the amount being as earlier: 3 to 5 minimum amounts of labour remuneration for the citizens, 5 to 10 minimum amounts of labour remuneration for officials, 50 to 100 minimum amounts of labour remuneration for legal entities) followed by confiscation of the instrument of violation and the product of illegal use of natural resources or without them.

Similar administrative responsibility is envisaged for the deployment of beehives and apiaries, procurement of tree juices, collection or commercial procurement of wild fruits, nuts, mushrooms, berries, medicinal and nutrient plants or parts thereof, technical raw materials on the land spots where it is prohibited or permitted only in the presence of the forest permit, or using unauthorised methods or devices, or in excess of specified volumes, or in violation of the specified time limits, and, equally, collection, procurement or sale of plants prohibited from it.

Introduces an administrative responsibility for the illegal felling, damage or digging of trees, bushes or lianas committed using mechanisms, motor vehicles, self-propelled machines and other types of equipment if these actions do not imply criminal responsibility.

The Federal Law is entered into force 30 days after the day of its official publication.

Federal Law No. 81-FZ of July 2, 2005 on the Ratification of the Protocol of Privileges and Immunities of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

Ratifies the Protocol singed in Baku on October 31, 2003. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Operation represents national parliaments of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Rumania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. The protocol envisages individual privileges and immunities of the Parliamentary Assembly and its representatives.

Federal Law No. 80-FZ of July 2, 2005 on the Amendments to the Federal Law on the Licensing of Individual Types of Activities, Federal Law on the Protection of Rights of Legal Entities and Independent Entrepreneurs during State Control (Enforcement) Measures and the Code of Administrative Violations of the Russian Federation

Reduces significantly the list of the types of activities subject to licensing. Earlier, the mentioned list included 125 types of activities. The new wording of Item 1 of Article 17 of the Federal Law No. 128-FZ of August 8, 2001 on the licensing of individual types of activities envisages only 103. The Law terminates from the day of entry into force of the amendments, in particular, the licensing of distribution of medicines and items of medical destination, passenger transportation on commercial basis by cars, public demonstration of audio and visual pieces of art in cinema halls, veterinary activities, production of tobacco items. The Law envisages a further stepwise reduction of the list of the licensed types of activities. From January 1, 2006, the reduction applies to 9 types of activities, in particular, assessment and audit activities. The duty to get the license from January 1, 2007 shall not apply to organisations and independent entrepreneurs engaged in the following 5 types of activities: tourist operator, tourist agent, design works, construction of buildings and structures and engineering surveys for the purpose of construction of buildings and structures (except for structures of seasonal and auxiliary destination). Besides, from the day of entry into force of technical regulations, 15 more types of activities will not be licensed, in particular, development, production, repair and testing of aircraft, operation of production objects featuring explosion, fire and chemical hazards, geodesy, cartography activities and some other.

The Law optimises the procedure of obtaining the licenses. Reduces the list of the documents submitted to the licensing body, reduces the time limit for adopting decisions on the issue of the license from 60 to 45 days. If there is an application from the party requesting the license or licence-holder, a simplified procedure of licensing may apply for the types of activities licensed to protect the proprietary rights and legal interests of citizens on condition that the party requesting the license or license-holder concludes an insurance contract for the civil liabilities or if the license-holder possesses a certificate of compliance of the licensed type of activities with international standards.

Also changes the procedure of license control. Introduces an article dedicated to responsibility of officials of the licensing bodies for the licensing of particular types of activities.

The Federal Law is entered into force 10 days after the day of its official publication except for individual provisions where other time limits of entry into force are envisaged.

Federal Law No. 79-FZ of July 2, 2005 on the Ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Yemen Republic on the Promotion and Mutual Protection of Capital Investments

Ratifies the Agreement signed in Moscow on December 17, 2002. According to the Agreement, the participating countries shall create favourable conditions for capital investments and introduce a regime of capital investments no less favourable as compared to own investors.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 408 of June 30, 2005 on the Amendments to Some of the Decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation

The rules of connection of telecommunication networks and their interaction endorsed by the Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 161 of March 28, 2005 are suspended until January 1, 2006.

The rules of rendering services of local, regional, intercity and international telephone communication endorsed by the Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 310 of May 18, 2005, as well as the rules of rendering of the services of mobile communication endorsed by the Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 328 of May 25, 2005, are suspended to shift the period of entry into force from July 1, 2005 to January 1, 2006.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 407 of June 30, 2005 on the Endorsement of the Rules of Adjustment of the Aggregate Investment Portfolio of the Management Companies Providing Trust Control for the Savings of the Housing Support

Defines the rules of adjustment of the aggregate investment portfolio of the management companies providing trust control for the savings of the housing support in case of violation of the requirements to the structure of the aggregate investment portfolio. Lists the requirements to the notification of such violation that the specialised depositary must send to the authorised federal body, federal body of executive power in the sphere of financial markets and each of the management companies no later than one working day after the day of revealing of such violation. The specialised depositary shall also be obliged to notify the mentioned subjects of the elimination of violations of the requirements to the structure of the aggregate investment portfolio no later than one working day after the day of its elimination.

The management company must take steps to sale the assets within one month from the day of receiving of the notification of the specialised depositary of the violation of the requirements to the structure of the aggregate investment portfolio, and in case of violation of these requirements as a result of the change of the market value of securities where the savings of the housing support are invested in - within 6 months. In this case, the sale applies to the assets where the violations of the requirements to the structure of the aggregate investment portfolio were found or other assets where the sale is necessary to eliminate such violation.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 406 of June 30, 2005 on the Assigning of the Federal Highways of Public Use in Operative Control of the Federal State Institutions

The federal highways of public use included in the lists of federal highways of the RSFSR and endorsed by the Decision of the Government of the RSFSR No. 62 of December 24, 1991 are being assigned for operative control with the federal state institutions supervised by the Federal Highway Agency.