Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 13.07.2005

Federal Law No. 84-FZ of July 5, 2005 on the Amendments to the Federal Law on the Federal Budget for the Year 2005

The incomes part of the budget is increased by Rbl 271.6 billion and expenses - by Rbl 348.3 billion. Additional budget allocations are earmarked to fulfil social obligations assumed by the state: to pay out the basic part of the labour pension and the state pension support, to increase monetary subsistence of servicemen and employees of law enforcement bodies, to index compensations and other payments to Chernobyl victims and other.

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

Decision of the Presidium of the Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation No. 15378/04 of June 15, 2005

The tax inspection carried out an on-site tax check of the enterprise for correctness of calculation and payment of taxes for the years 2000-2002. As a result of the check, the enterprises had to pay additional taxes, penalties and fines. According to the inspection, the enterprise did not include in the taxable base monetary resources received from user enterprises for the services of acceptance of waste water with concentration of pollutants higher than permissible level, which reduced the taxable base and resulted in underpayment of taxes.

However, the enterprise regarded the mentioned payment as fines for the violation of the obligation to dispose of the waste water and, therefore, did not include it in the taxable base. In substantiation of its position, the enterprise presented the acts of the previous on-site checks carried out by the inspection where the inspection recognised that additional payment is legally qualified by the enterprise as fines.

The Presidium of the Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation emphasised that additional payment for excessive disposal of waste water and pollutants is a kind of differentiated tariff rate for the services of acceptance and decontamination of hazardous substances in the waste water. This payment is fixed on the basis of an agreement between the parties and is not qualified as fines or another responsibility for the failure to fulfil obligations under the contract. In this case, amounts of additional payment for the disposal of waste water and pollutants is the payment for the rendered services and, therefore, must be included in the taxable base as appropriate taxes. Meanwhile, since the given tax violation was revealed in the course of a repeated tax check only, with the tax body failing to recognise it as such initially, the Presidium agreed to the conclusion of the judges of the first and appellate instances exempting the enterprise from the fines in this case.

Order of the Ministry of the Industry and Power Supplies of the Russian Federation No. 194 of June 23, 2005 on the Endorsement of the Rules of Granting Subsidies to Organisations of Popular Crafts in 2005

The subsidies are granted within the limits of endorsed budget obligations to the Federal Agency of the Industry and must be allocated first and foremost to reimburse 50% of tariff rates for the railway transportation over the territory of the Russian Federation of products made by recipients of the subsidies and dispatched in the previous month. The subsidies are granted on the monthly basis on condition of presenting by recipients of the subsidies of the documents according to the lists and forms endorsed by the Order within specified time limits. The checking of the documents is vested in the association "Popular Crafts of Russia".

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on July 11, 2005. Reg. No. 6771.

Order of the Federal Service for Financial Markets No. 05-21/pz-n of June 15, 2005 on the Endorsement of the Regulation on the Procedure and Time Limits of Determination of the Cost of Net Assets of Joint-Stock Investment Funds, Cost of Net Assets of the Shared Investment Funds, Estimated Cost of Investment Shares of the Shared Investment Funds, As Well As the Cost of Net Assets of Joint-Stock Investment Funds per Stock

Specifies the procedure and time limits of determination of the cost of net assets of joint-stock and shared investment funds, including the procedure of calculation of their average annual cost, as well as the procedure and time limits of determination of the estimated cost of investment shares of the shared investment funds and the cost of net assets of joint-stock investment funds per stock. The cost of net assets is determined as a difference between the cost of assets of this fund and the amount of obligations due for execution at the expense of the mentioned assets as of the moment of determination of the cost.

The rules of determination of the cost of assets are specified in the internal document of the joint-stock investment fund or the management company of the shared investment fund.

The average annual cost of net assets is calculated as a ratio of the cost of net assets of the fund for each day of the calendar year to the number of days in the calendar year. The cost of net assets of the joint-stock investment fund per stock is determined by dividing the cost of net assets by the number of placed stocks of this fund as of the moment of its determination.

The Order provides the form of the certificate of the cost of net assets showing the results of determination of the cost of net assets of the investment fund, as well as the cost of net assets of the joint-stock investment fund per stock and the estimated cost of investment share of the shared investment fund.

The Order is entered into force from October 1, 2005.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on July 11, 2005. Reg. No. 6769.

Letter of the Central Bank of Russia No. 94-T of July 4, 2005 on the Fixing of the Rouble Equivalents for the Figures Envisaged in the Direction of the Bank of Russia No. 1346-U of December 1, 2003

In the III quarter of 2005, the rouble equivalent of the registered capital for created banks regardless of the share of participation of foreign capital in them must be at least Rbl 172,620,500 (in the II quarter, Rbl 180,282,000).

The registered capital for the created non-bank credit organisations must be at least Rbl 17,262,050 (in the II quarter - Rbl 18,028,200).

For the actual credit organisations requesting the general license, the rouble equivalent of the registered capital must make at least Rbl 172,620,500 (in the II quarter - Rbl 180,292,000). The same amount is envisaged for non-bank credit organisations requesting the status of a bank.