Russia: Legal News Sergey Pepeliaev, Managing Partner June 2010, Minsk

2 Russian Law On Trade dated 28 December 2009  Focus: supply of foodstuffs;  Disclosure of information on the selection of contracting parties;  Limitations on the types and amounts of fees payable to retailers;  Restrictions on deferring payments to suppliers;  Antimonopoly rules:  ban on the imposition of a number of contract terms;  ban on commissions in wholesale trade;  ban on discriminating conditions;  Restrictions on market dominance (25% of the local market).

3 Liability for economic offences Sources: Federal Laws of the Russian Federation dated 29 December 2009 and 7 April 2010  Remand in custody is no longer applicable as a measure of restraint, there are more extensive opportunities for a pledge;  The concept of prejudice has been changed;  The size of financial transactions and arrears qualified as crimes has been increased;  The concept of active repentance has been introduced for tax offences;  Violations of licensing terms and requirements have been decriminalised;  Pseudo-entrepreneurship no longer constitutes a crime;  The money laundering concept has been modified.

4 Antimonopoly legislation  Drafting of third package of amendments:  offences relating to concerted practices and illegal coordination have been described in more detail;  criteria have been developed on market comparability;  the notification procedure has been approved for group transactions;  fixed penalties have been introduced instead of turnover penalties;  violations have been decriminalised (in respect of concerted practices, vertical agreements).  The Supreme Arbitration Court upholds the decisions of the Antimonopoly Service (Resolution dated 25 May 2010 on the TNK-BP case).

5 Judicial system  Development of the system of authoritative interpretations  Amendments to the Russian Arbitration Procedure Code:  С hapter 28 1 Review of Cases on Corporate Disputes  C hapter 28 2 Review of Cases on the Protection of the Rights and Legal Interests of Groups of Persons  Development of the practice of collecting actual judicial expenses  Development of the practice of collecting expenses from the state authorities.

6 Employment and migration law  The procedure of employing highly-skilled foreign professionals has been simplified  Employers are subject to increasing state controls  Employees are becoming more proactive in protecting their rights  Politicians have called for reforms of the Russian Labour Code.

7 Customs law  A Customs Union is being established between Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan:  unified tariff and non-tariff customs regulation of foreign trade;  unified customs tariffs;  Customs Code of the Customs Union.

8 Corporate legislation  Now rights of claim against a company can be used to pay for interest or shares in the authorised capital.  An attempt was made to check the enforceability of shareholder agreements through a court.

9 Land law  Penalties for violations of land use and subsoil use have been increased materially  Duties established for real estate transactions have been increased materially  Resolution No.10/22 by the Plenums of the Russian Supreme Court and Russian Supreme Arbitration Court dated 29 April 2010 was adopted “On Certain Issues Arising in Judicial Practice when Resolving Disputes Relating to Protection of Title and Other Proprietary Rights”.

10 Tax law  Draft laws on transfer pricing and consolidated group of taxpayers  Prosecution of fraudulent tax minimisation schemes and arrangements relating to the abuse of taxpayer rights:  absent suppliers  residency rules  thin capitalisation;  Transition from the unified social tax to insurance contributions.

11 Bankruptcy legislation  Legislation in respect of persons controlling the debtor has been rendered more stringent to provide better protection for creditors.

12 IP Legislation  Russia completed the requisite procedures to accede to the Patent Law Treaty (PLT)  Memoranda have been signed and projects have been launched within the scope of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme (Japan, Korea, USA).

13 Banking law  Incentives have been introduced to stimulate consolidation in the banking sector: the minimum equity of a bank has been increased: RUB 90 million from 2010 and RUB 180 million from 2012 banks may not offset claims and borrowings to form their authorised capital.  Control over the stability of banks has been increased: secondary liability of bank management.  Regulations have been introduced to oversee the operations of payment agents, which involve the collection of payments from individuals.

14 Market for legal services New policy of the Russian Ministry of Justice:  The legal profession should be:  regulated  unified  Reform of advocacy  Evolution and self-regulation  Open market.

15 Contact information 12 Krasnopresnenskaya nab., Entrance 7, World Trade Center-II, Moscow, Russia Tel.: +7 (495) Fax: +7 (495) Shpalernaya, Golden Shpalernaya Business Center, St Petersburg, , Russia Tel.: +7 (812) Fax: +7 (812)