Deputies explained the meaning of “generalized information” when publishing information about their income and property

On June 28, the State Duma plans to adopt a resolution that will fix the procedure for publishing “generalized information” on the income of deputies. On June 19, the draft resolution was introduced by the State Duma commission on control over the reliability of information about income.

Instead of a provision “on the procedure for posting information about incomes” of deputies on the website of the State Duma, deputies propose adopting a provision on the procedure for posting “generalized information” on the performance (improper performance) of anti-corruption duties. In particular, the website of the lower house of parliament will only contain information on the number of deputies who did not fulfill the obligation to provide information about their income and the income of their closest relatives by April 1.

If all deputies have fulfilled this obligation, then a corresponding notice will appear on the website of the chamber. The website of the State Duma also contains information on the number of parliamentarians who knowingly provided false or incomplete information about their income. This information should be posted on the website of the State Duma within 14 working days after April 1, but another deadline for posting information may be established by decision of the commission.

Deputies have stopped publishing income declarations since this year. The reason for this was the decree signed by the President at the end of December 2022, which allows not to publish declarations of those involved in solving problems related to the special operation. The law on the publication of declarations in a generalized form was adopted by the State Duma in January 2023.

The law did not directly spell out the form for disclosing depersonalized information about the income of deputies, says Pavel Sklyanchuk, a member of the political technologies committee of the RASO: “Therefore, the position of the State Duma can become a model for the Federation Council and regional legislatures, given previous unsuccessful attempts with “deputy number 1” and “ deputy number 2 “(in this form, information about the deputies was published by the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. – Vedomosti)”.

The terms for the development of the document were greatly delayed, given that the declaration campaign ended more than two months ago, Sklyanchuk notes: “Most likely, this is due to the fact that they were waiting for the end of verification activities in relation to the submitted information on income and expenses.” At the same time, the provision does not spell out the possibility of publishing a declaration if the politician voluntarily published this information, so as not to turn this mechanism into a political struggle, he adds.

“In the near future, information will most likely appear on the website of the State Duma that all deputies have submitted declarations for 2022,” Sklyanchuk believes.