Putin signed the law on criminal liability for the illegal activities of collectors

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law under which debt collectors will face up to 10 years in prison if they use violence to collect debts. Document published on the official Internet portal of legal information.

The law introduces criminal liability for threats of violence, destruction of property or dissemination of knowingly false or defamatory information in the course of collection activities. For these actions, collectors face either a fine of 300 to 500 thousand rubles, or in the amount of wages, or other income for a period of one to three years, or imprisonment for up to five years with a ban on holding certain positions for up to three years.

For similar actions by a group of persons by prior conspiracy with the use of violence that is not dangerous to health, destruction or damage to the property of the victim on a large scale, they face imprisonment from three to seven years with a ban on holding certain positions for up to three years, as well as a fine of 500 thousand to 1 million rub.

For such acts as part of an organized group with the use of violence dangerous to life or health, destruction or damage to property on an especially large scale, a prison sentence of five to 10 years with a ban on certain activities up to three years, as well as a fine of 1 to 5 mln rub.

The bill was introduced by a group of deputies in June 2022. As a reason, the explanatory materials indicated an increase in the number of citizens’ complaints against creditors. According to the FSSP for 2018-2020, more than 78.3 thousand applications were accepted for consideration. In June document accepted in the State Duma.

Olesya Pavlenko