Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 31.01.2006

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 40 of January 26, 2006 on the Amendments to the Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 627 of October 19, 2005

Major operators of a public-use communication network who used estimated prices (rates) for provided network resources and participation in traffic transfer over these networks in compliance with the Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1331 of October 17, 1997 shall use for the estimate of the services of traffic transfer rendered in December 2005 information of November 2005.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 39 of January 26, 2006 on the Abolishment of the Licensing of Export from the Russian Federation of Hides of Bovine Animals, Sheep and Other Unprocessed Skins

Abandons the licensing of the export from the Russian Federation of hides of bovine animals (code according to the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation 4101), sheep (code according to the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation 4102) and other untreated skins (code according to the Foreign Trade Commodity Nomenclature of the Russian Federation 4103).

Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 38-r of January 19, 2006

Endorses the program of socio-economic development of the Russian Federation for the medium-term perspective (2006-2008). The program defines the key directions of activities of the Government of the Russian Federation for the mentioned years providing for achievement of such strategic goals for the development of the country as improvement of well-being of the population and reduction of poverty on the basis of a dynamic and stable economic growth and improvement of competitive potential of the country.

The program implies implementation of the priority national projects in the sphere of public health, education, housing and development of the agroindustrial complex, creation of a favourable investment climate, structural reformation of the economy, modernisation of the industry and animation of investment activities providing for high and stable rates of economic growth.

Administrative reform will continue and the reform of state service, providing for publicity and regulation of activities of the state bodies of power and further reduction of excessive functions.

In the sphere of public health, it is planned to reorganise a significant part of medical institutions into new organisational and legal forms of state (municipal) autonomous institutions.

In the sphere of pension support, it is envisaged to gradually increase the basic part of the labour pensions.

In the sphere of tax policy, special attention will be paid to measures of reduction of the basic VAT rate to 13%, improvement of administration of the given tax and simplification of the procedure of its reimbursement.

In the sphere of the fuel and power-supply complex, it is planned to increase oil production to 490 million tons in 2008 owing to operation of developed deposits and putting in operation of individual new deposits, in particular, in the Tomsk Province, Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District.

The Order endorses a plan of actions of the Government of the Russian Federation to implement in 2006 the provision of the program. Prepares preliminary figures of implementation of the national projects and strategies reflecting the GDP growth per annum.

Order of the Federal Service for Tariff Rates No. 804-a of December 23, 2005 on the Endorsement of the Form of Submission of Information on the Amounts of Limiting Wholesale and Limiting Retail Trade Mark-Ups to Prices for Medicines Introduced in the Subjects of the Russian Federation

The form of submission of information on the amounts of limiting wholesale and retail trade mark-ups to the prices for vital and most important medicines introduced in the subjects of the Russian Federation is endorsed on the basis of the Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 782 of November 9, 2001 on the state regulation of prices for medicines. The mentioned Decision introduces the duty of the subjects of the Russian Federation to fix the limiting wholesale and retail trade mark-ups to vital and most important medicines.

The form includes sections for the amounts of fixed and differentiated wholesale, retail trade limiting mark-ups defined by producers and organisations of wholesale trade for the population, for the categories of citizens enjoying exemptions, for medical treatment and prevention institutions, as well as for specific groups of medicines.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on January 30, 2006. Reg. No. 7425.

Order of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation No. 10 of January 12, 2006 on the Procedure of Publication and Entry into Force of the Legal Acts of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

Legal acts of the Ministry of Defence of Russia, other than those containing the state secret or confidential information and recognised as not needing the state registration, must be published in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda and on the official internet site of the Ministry of Defence of Russia. The mentioned acts shall enter into force from the moment of their signing, if another procedure and/or time of entry into force is not specified in the acts themselves. Publication in Krasnaya Zvezda is considered to be an official one.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on January 30, 2006. Reg. No. 7420.

Order of the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication of the Russian Federation No. 3 of January 11, 2006 on the Endorsement of the Requirements to Protection against Unauthorised Access to Programs Broadcasted over DVB Digital TV Broadcasting System When Transmitted over Communication Channels of Satellite Lines of a Public-Use Communication Network

To protect against unauthorised access, the mentioned programs shall use hardware and software means of protection. The means of protection provide for the conversion (encoding, decoding) of the TV broadcasting program signals regardless of the number of such programs united in a digital channel.

The mentioned requirements are introduced from March 31, 2006.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on January 23, 2006. Reg. No. 7404.

Order of the Federal Customs Service No. 1120 of November 30, 2005 on the Authority of the Customs Bodies to Carry out Customs Operations for Commodities Moved by Sea (River) Transport

Lists specialised customs bodies with the sphere of reference confined to only customs operations in the sea (river) ports for commodities moved by sea (river) transport, as well as for commodities moved by other types of transport. The given commodities must comply with the following requirements: be placed under the customs regime of duty-free trade, provide for the activities of the port, duty-free shops, be moved by specialised transportation and forwarding organisations as urgent cargo.

Registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on January 16, 2006. Reg. No. 7359.