Business about the concept of development of control and supervision

Business associations support the government’s plans to develop the scope of control and supervision. First Vice-President of Opora Russia Marina Bludyan notes that the focus on reform of control and supervision is not decreasing. “The CND reform is underway, but its implementation must be managed,” she says, noting the streamlining of three important processes in the concept.

The first is risk management, the risk-oriented approach itself, which is exactly what the reform was started for. The activity of checks and the degree of control depend on the risk category of the controlled person. Now the process of assigning a category is controlled: the entrepreneur can influence the category and secure a lower one, and the controller can achieve its promotion. “Similar practices already exist abroad, but they are not implemented as technologically as ours. Our participants in the process are not only control bodies, but also those under control. The bilateral process will ensure objectivity, so we can admit that we will have one of the best government risk management systems,” says Ms. Bludyan.

The second process is the development of risk indicators. Under the conditions of a moratorium on most inspections (with the exception of extremely high-risk and high-risk facilities), risk indicators became a tool that made it possible to schedule unscheduled inspections and stop violations. “The control authorities determined all risk indicators independently without consultation with businesses. This was an important process; it was necessary to quickly develop such indicators. But now we have the opportunity to approach the process in a balanced way. The draft order allows these indicators to be adjusted next year,” she notes. Thus, on the basis of Support of Russia, together with the Ministry of Economy, 15–18 meetings will be held by the end of 2023 with the participation of specialized associations (there are 110 of them in Support of Russia), representatives of the office of the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs from all regions, as well as other businesses – associations. The results of these risk indicator meetings will form the basis for changes in 2024.

The third process is the approval of the bona fide of the controlled entity. As Marina Bludyan explains, each control body must apply a formula for determining the risk category and take into account the conscientious behavior of the person. Among the signs of good faith, the expert notes automation of control of risk factors, participation in self-regulatory organizations, as well as voluntary liability insurance. “Control bodies must take into account the conscientious behavior of supervised persons. If an entrepreneur conducts regular self-examinations, provides this data to an inspector, automates the reporting process, if he is a member of a self-regulatory organization, complies with its standards and is subject to the control procedures of such an organization, if he insures liability and receives an assessment of the level of risk from an inspector of an insurance organization interested in being such examination, then the entrepreneur can count on a lower risk category within the framework of the KND system,” she believes.

Ekaterina Avdeeva, head of the expert center for criminal legal policy and execution of judicial acts of Business Russia, believes that the implementation of the concept in the presented form will be a significant step from the still existing subjective expert assessments and discretionary decisions of the inspector to a system of clear and understandable regulations. The development of risk management and the creation of a clear system for categorizing objects of control with the ability to reduce risk categories, with a large number of risk indicators and a “risk calculator” will reduce the scale of corruption in control and supervisory activities. The development of violation prevention services will help simultaneously reduce the burden on control and supervisory agencies and increase the level of legal literacy and responsibility of entrepreneurs.

The expert draws attention to the proposal of the authors of the concept to introduce into the law on control a provision on agreements to eliminate violations, which will exclude the bringing of budgetary institutions and officials to administrative liability. “We believe that it would be fair and justified for a similar rule to be introduced for commercial and non-profit organizations, especially when it comes to small and micro businesses, recently registered companies, and socially significant projects. At the same time, we are by no means talking about indulgence for such companies; high risks to people’s lives and health must be strictly suppressed,” says the expert.

According to Ekaterina Avdeeva, suppression of violations within the framework of the CND often protects against consequences that may be grounds for initiating criminal cases, for example, if violations of fire safety requirements or the provision of services that do not meet safety requirements led to damage to health or death due to negligence. “Therefore, clear KND regulations with a risk-based approach are a reduction in administrative pressure and the prevention of criminal legal risks,” the expert states.

Diana Galieva