Putin instructed to ban the Ministry of Internal Affairs from fining businesses for violating requirements

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to prohibit police officers from fining businesses for violating mandatory requirements, which are assessed by supervisory authorities. The president instructed the government, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General’s Office to develop the corresponding bill by October 1, according to website Kremlin.

“The Government of the Russian Federation, together with the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, should ensure that changes are made to the legislation of the Russian Federation that provide for the exclusion of the possibility of bringing business entities to administrative liability by police officers for violation of mandatory requirements, the assessment of compliance with which is carried out by control (supervisory) bodies within the framework of types state control (supervision) and municipal control,” says Vladimir Putin’s list of instructions following the results of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which took place on June 14-17.

June 16 at SPIEF Vladimir Putin asked the government, the prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to enshrine in the law the rule that business inspections can be carried out only by specialized departments, and strictly monitor its implementation. During the forum, he declaredthat “there are grounds to refuse on a permanent basis” from inspections of all Russian business, if its work is not associated with the risk of harm.

On March 10, 2022, a moratorium was introduced in Russia on business inspections by control and supervisory authorities. He allowed scheduled inspections only where risks are high – at socially significant facilities (schools and kindergartens) on compliance with sanitary and fire requirements, as well as at hazardous production facilities. Unscheduled inspections were allowed only on the grounds determined by the government (for example, in case of a threat to the life and health of citizens, the occurrence of an emergency, on instructions from the president and the government).

In 2022, 339 thousand inspections were carried out – this is the absolute minimum, 20% less than in the moratorium year 2020 (408 thousand), and almost five times less than in 2019 (1.5 million). In 2023, restrictions on unscheduled business inspections were extended.

Erdni Kagaltynov