Баспасөз орталығы

On 1 March 2018 the Government of the Russian Federation by its decision No. 213 approved the criteria on the basis of which activities of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs are assigned with certain categories of risk for the purpose of state control over compliance with antitrust laws, and established three risk categories, respectively: average, moderate and low.

The Government of the Russian Federation by its resolution No. 158 of 15 February 2018 approved:

- the Project Finance Factory program which provides for financing of investment projects on the basis of syndicated loan agreements (hereinafter - the 'Program');

- the Rules for Granting Subsidies from the Federal Budget to Compensate for Costs Associated with the Provision of Loans and Credits under the Project Financing Factory Mechanism (hereinafter - the 'Rules').

On 5 February 2018, Federal Law No. 16-FZ on the introduction of amendments to the Federal Law 'On the Fundamental Principles of Tourist Activities in the Russian Federation' and the Code of the Russian Federation 'On Administrative Offenses' was signed ('Law No. 16-FZ'). Law No. 16-FZ provides, inter alia, for obligatory classification of hotels, ski trails, and beaches and is aimed at improving the legal regulation in the provision of hotel services.

In December 2017 and early February 2018, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted a number of decisions on the establishment of territories for priority socio-economic development (TPSED) in several regions of Russia

Pursuant to the changes in the Federal Law 'On Circulation of Medicines' introduced by Federal Law No. 425-FZ, dated 28 December 2017 ('Law No. 425-FZ'), from 1 January 2020 the federal state information system for monitoring the circulation of medicines for medical use from the manufacturer to the end user with the application of identification marks (system for monitoring the medicines circulation) will start functioning in Russia.

On 1 February 2018, the Federal Law, dated 31 December 2017, No. 486-FZ 'On Syndicated Lending and Introduction of Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation' (hereinafter - the 'Law No. 486-FZ') comes into force.

The overview highlights some significant changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation that come into force in January and February 2018, in particular in such domains and spheres of regulation as:
banking law;
tax law;
public procurement;
intellectual property rights;
Internet messengers and mass media;
circulation of medicines;
medical services;
industrial production and technical regulation;
inspections of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

On 13 December 2017, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted in the first reading the draft Federal Law aimed at the legalisation of remote retail trade in medicines. The right to conduct remote retail trade (including trade via the Internet) in the OTC medicines for medical and veterinary use shall be granted to pharmacy organisations and veterinary pharmacy organisations, respectively.

As of 1 January 2018, the Instruction No. 181-I of August 16, 2017 of Bank of Russia establishing the procedure for the submission by Russian residents and non-residents to authorised banks of supporting documents and information on the performance of currency transactions, as well as unified forms of accounting and reporting on currency transactions, the procedure and timing of their submission becomes effective. In particular, the requirement to submit a transaction passport by Russian residents with an authorised bank is cancelled, instead, the procedure for registering foreign trade contracts with banks with unique numbers being assigned to them is established.