The President called for the elimination of “rubber” economic articles in the legislation

Vague wording and “rubber” articles in the legislation relating to business activities should be removed. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his speech at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

“It is necessary to ensure a clearer legal regulation of economic life in the country, including the elimination of the so-called vague formulations in the regulatory framework and the so-called rubber articles,” the head of state said.

Putin also emphasized the need to minimize cases “when an investigation disrupts the work of an enterprise, causes the collapse of labor collectives.”

The President of Russia has proposed to change the norms of legislation regarding economic crimes before. On February 21, during his address to the Federal Assembly, Putin declaredthat permissiveness cannot be allowed in the economic sphere, but “to go too far is also useless.” He called for moving towards the decriminalization of legislation on this issue.

After that the government contributed to the State Duma a draft law on the mitigation of criminal liability for a number of economic crimes. The document spoke about the reduction of the statute of limitations for several economic articles, as well as the closure of the criminal case in the payment of fines, arrears and penalties in cases of tax evasion. The law was signed by the president in March of this year.

In May, during a meeting with members of Delovaya Rossiya, Putin informedthat instructed the administration and the government to prepare initiatives to decriminalize certain economic crimes. The head of state explained that such “rubber articles” as fraud require “constant attention to law enforcement and an appropriate response.”