The Supreme Court proposed to consolidate the concept of crime in the field of entrepreneurship

The Supreme Court (SC) of Russia proposed to enshrine in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPC) the concept of “crime in the field of entrepreneurial activity.” The relevant bill introduced to the State Duma.

Amendments are proposed to be made to Art. 5 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. The authors of the initiative note that the bodies of preliminary investigation and the courts experience certain difficulties in distinguishing between crimes committed in connection with entrepreneurial activity and crimes that do not belong to it. This is due to the lack of a relevant concept in the law.

The Supreme Court proposes to understand the crime in the field of entrepreneurial activity as the work of an individual entrepreneur, which is aimed at making a profit by selling goods, services, etc., and is carried out “independently, at your own risk.” The concept also applies to members of the management body of a commercial organization.

The adoption of the bill will help increase the level of procedural guarantees and protect business, and will reduce the number of arrests of entrepreneurs, the authors of the bill note in an explanatory note.

June 13 Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that establishes the conditions under which the court has the right to send an entrepreneur accused of committing economic crimes into custody: if the businessman does not have a place of residence in Russia, has previously violated the chosen measure of restraint or was hiding from the investigation or court. In other cases, the court is obliged to give priority to those preventive measures under which the entrepreneur can continue to work.