Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 2.07.2012

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 656 of June 28, 2012 on Endorsing a List of the Foodstuffs Produced with or without the Use of Ethyl Alcohol Made from Food Raw Materials and/or Alcohol-Containing Products with Ethyl Alcohol Content of over 0.5 Per Cent of a Finished Product Not Deemed Alcohol Product

Kvas, kefir, cyder, honey wine, chocolate, ice-cream, summer sausage and some other products are not deemed "alcohol products" even though they contain ethanol.
From July 1, 2012 alcohol products include all foodstuffs containing over 0.5% of ethyl alcohol, and therefore, a licence is required for the production, storage, delivery and retail sale thereof.
Still, the Russian government is entitled to define a list of the products not deemed "alcohol products" despite a certain quantity of ethanol contained therein. Such list has been endorsed.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 648 of June 28, 2012 on Licensing the Carriage of Ethyl Alcohol (Including Denatured One) and Non-Packed Alcohol-Containing Products with Ethyl Alcohol Content of over 25 Per Cent by Volume of Finished Product

Ethyl alcohol (including denatured one) and non-packed alcohol-containing products with ethyl alcohol content exceeding 25% by volume of finished product may be carried by road under a hazardous-cargo carriage licence. For road carriage licences are issued by the Federal Service on Alcohol Market Regulation, and for rail, inland-waterway and sea, by the Federal Service for Supervision over Transport. For air carriage it must be a cargo carriage licence (except for cases when carriage takes place for the own needs of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur).
The licence-seeker is to own or otherwise possess properly equipped motor vehicles and technical facilities. A licence is issued for a term of up to five years.
The procedure does not extend to road carriage of products placed under the procedure of customs transit.
Effective from July 1, 2012.

Regulations of the Bank of Russia No. 383-P of June 19, 2012 on Money Remittance Rules

New roubles money remittance rules are established for the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and lending institutions in Russia. This is due to the adoption of the Law on the National Payment System. The new provision extends to all clients of lending institutions (both natural persons and legal entities) and to money remittances involving Vneshekonombank.
The Central Bank's provisions on cashless settlements of accounts in Russia and on the procedure for natural persons to effect them are no longer effective.
Banks remit funds by means of bank accounts and without opening such accounts under remittance instructions.
The following forms of cashless settlements of accounts are envisaged: payment instructions; letter of credit; cash collection instructions; cheques; money remittance on request of a beneficiary, i.e. direct debit (payment claims were used before); and electronic money remittance.
Transactions involving cash are envisaged as interim stages, like handing cash out to and receiving cash from individuals.
The new regulations do not include the previously effective provision concerning cashless settlements of accounts involving correspondent accounts (subaccounts) etc.
Banks have to adopt in-house documents comprising a procedure for drawing up and handling remittance instructions.
The regulations enter into force upon the expiry of ten days after official publication with some exceptions.

Direction of the Bank of Russia No. 2836-U of June 19, 2012 on the Requirements Established by the Bank of Russia as Applicable to a Significant Payment System

The law on the national payment system formulated provisions governing a significant payment system including requirements established by the Bank of Russia as applicable to a system-significant and socially-significant payment systems.
Accordingly the operator of a system has to make sure all relevant provisions are observed within 90 calendar days after receiving a notice from the Bank of Russia that the system is deemed "significant".
Requirements are defined by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation as applicable to the financial stability of the settlement centre of a system-significant payment system.
The rest of banks and settlement non-banking credit organisations are required not to have breaches of compulsory standard ratios established by instructions of the Central Bank for six operational days in aggregate during any 30 operational days in a row.
The direction enters into force upon the expiry of ten days after official publication.

Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 03-05-04-02/41 of May 3, 2012 on Setting Due Dates for the Payment of Transport Tax and Land Tax for Taxpayers Being Natural Persons

Due dates for the payment of transport tax and land tax will be established by normative legal acts of regions and municipalities respectively.
For natural persons not being individual entrepreneurs due dates cannot be before November 1 of the year following the past tax period. According to the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation due date may be defined as November 1 of the year following the past tax period.