Author: Anna-Marie Dobbelstein

Authorities in the Russian Federation have published measures for the prevention and control of the measles. Employers must carry out immunization measures against the measles among their employees and report to authorities. Both company and director can get a penalty if employees do not carry proof of vaccination or immunity.

On 11 March 2019 the Regulation of the Chief sanitary officer of the RF “On the performance of clean-up immunizationagainst the measles in the territory of the RF” dated 06.03.2019 No.2 was registered by the Ministry of Justice of the RF.

This regulatory act requires you to carry out immunization measures against the measles among your employees and report the number of employees vaccinated to Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare) by 31 December, 2019.

Please note that this Regulation also governs migrant workers. Art. 3 of the Regulation reads as follows: “3. Employers, who involve foreign citizens in the performance of work, must prior to 31.12.2019 take immunization measures against the measles of the mentioned foreign citizens that have not been sick with measles and have not been vaccinated or have no medical history of vaccination against the measles.

This issue should not be postponed and may require extra time for the following reasons:

• There are not always sufficient vaccines in the health care facilities
• One can be rejected for vaccination due to medical reasons, so it can take additional time to solve this situation
• There are various requirements to the report from different subdivisions of the Rospotrebnadzor

In total the whole procedure and filing of the reports can take up to one month.

Juralink can assist you in order to comply with the above measures. If you would like to know more, please let us know and we will contact you soon.

Our colleague Anna gave a presentation on protection of plant races and trademarks in the Russian Federation. It was part of the 5 November 2019 CIOPORA Academy.

You are very welcome to attend. Registration is via https://www.ciopora-academy.org/nov-5-amsterdam-workshop-on-ip-for-plants/

From the program:
November 5, 10:45 – 12:00 – Module 4: 
Plant Variety Protection and Trademarks and their Enforcement in the Russian Federation by Anna Fischer, Legal Counsel at Juralink, the Netherlands/Russia 

Receive a full overview of Russia’s IP for the agricultural and horticultural sectors. Learn about how to protect your PBRs and Trademarks, which state authorities to deal with and what regulatory requirements to comply with for launching, importing, and distributing plants.

What protection and enforcement mechanisms are available to breeders? Is a registration of a license agreement worthwhile? Are there any relevant legislative developments in the country? The presentation will provide you with answers to these questions and help improve your IP strategy in Russia.

From 01.04.2019, the insurance certificate of compulsory pension insurance, which indicated the SNILS (insurance number of an individual personal account), is no longer issued. In confirmation of the SNILS assignment, a document confirming registration in a system of individual (personified) accounts is provided. It also indicates the insurance number of the individual personal account. The  document mentioned can be sent by choice in electronic form or issued on paper.

These changes were made by the Federal Law of 01.04.2019 N 48-FZ to the Federal Law “Individual (personified) Registration in the System of Compulsory Pension Insurance”.

From April 1, 2019, citizens of Russia, foreign citizens and highly qualified specialists have to register an individual personal account in the individual (personified) accounting system, carried out by the Pension Fund of Russia.

This new rule applies in spite of the fact that pension insurance in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 22.1 of the Federal Law “On Compulsory Pension Insurance in the Russian Federation” continues not to apply to Highly Qualified Specialists. And this provision remains unchanged.

In accordance with the law on the choice of an individual, it can be sent to him in the form of an electronic document, as well as by other means, including on paper by mail.

Previously issued insurance certificates remain valid and are identical to the documents confirming registration in the system of individual (personified) accounts.

Information about SNILS, as before, shall be provided by a citizen when applying for state and municipal services independently.

Highly qualified specialists working under previously concluded employment contracts must register in the system of individual (personified) accounts.

Evasion of this duty may entail liability under Part 1 of Art. 5.27 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation in the form of a warning or the imposition of an administrative fine. For more information, contact our specialists.

Authorities in the Russian Federation have published measures for the prevention and control of the measles.

Employers will be required to carry out immunization measures against the measles among their employees and report to authorities.

On 11 March 2019 the Regulation of the Chief sanitary officer of the RF “On the performance of clean-up immunization against the measles in the territory of the RF” dated 06.03.2019 No.2 was registered by the Ministry of Justice of the RF.

This regulatory act requires you to carry out immunization measures against the measles among your employees and report the number of employees vaccinated to Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare) by 31 December, 2019.

Please note that this Regulation also governs migrant workers. Art. 3 of the Regulation reads as follows: “3. Employers, who involve foreign citizens in the performance of work, must prior to 31.12.2019 take immunization measures against the measles of the mentioned foreign citizens that have not been sick with measles and have not been vaccinated or have no medical history of vaccination against the measles.

This issue should not be postponed and may require extra time for the following reasons:

• There are not always sufficient vaccines in the health care facilities
• One can be rejected for vaccination due to medical reasons, so it can take additional time to solve this situation
• There are various requirements to the report from different subdivisions of the Rospotrebnadzor

In total the whole procedure and filing of the reports can take up to one month.

Juralink can assist you in order to comply with the above measures. If you would like to know more, please let us know and we will contact you soon.

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Residents (individuals) of the Russian Federation must annually prior to 1^st June file a report on the transfer of funds in the previous year to accounts, outside the territory of the Russian Federation.

This obligation is applicable to foreign citizens who permanently reside in the Russian Federation on the basis of a residence permit.

Mentioned reports on flow of funds of alien accounts should have been filed to the tax authority for the place of registration of the resident individual for the period from 1^st January till 31^st December of the accounting year. Reports can be filed in several ways:

• in person by a resident individual
• by a representative
• by sending to the tax authority by registered mail with return receipt
• electronically via the user account of the taxpayer on the official web-site of the Federal Tax Service www.nalog.ru

You can enclose to the report copies of documents and information confirming performance of exchange operations and account (deposits) management. In certain cases such documents and information can be asked additionally by the tax authority.

Please let us know if you require any assistance.

The new draft law on greenhouse gas emissions could have serious financial implications for companies with sizeable emissions.

The draft is an indication that the Russian government will be imposing individual emission limits (and charges) on companies. Direct regulations are not yet issued. But if the law is implemented, the Russian Government would get the following powers and authorities:

1.      to determine which greenhouse gases (hereinafter – the “GHG”) will be subject to state regulation;

2.      to establish limits on GHG emission;

3.      to determine the criteria under which the related activity of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs will be subject to state regulation;

4.      to determine the limits for issuance of GHG emission permits, the terms and procedure for submitting reports on GHG emissions, the specific cases requiring verification of (i) GHG emission reports and (ii) reports on realization of GHG reduction projects, and the procedure for such verification;

5.      to establish requirements for transactions with GHG emission reduction and absorption units;

6.      to set fees for GHG emissions and a relevant procedure for collecting such fees;

7.      to approve the rules under which a realization of GHG reduction projects is to be treated as GHG emission reduction;

8.      to establish federal and regional reporting criteria;

9.      to establish further responsibilities in the field of GHG emission

Would you like to be updated on the subject? Please let us know.

The EVOFenedex seminar on Russia attracted a large number of participants. Clearly entrepreneurs are interested to understand requirements for doing business in Russia. Lodewijk Schlingemann of Juralink presented the legal framework for contracts in Russia with participants making notes and asking further questions.

If you are interested in more information, a meeting or an inhouse workshop, please feel free to contact us.

Juralink is pleased to announce the opening of its new office in Cologne, Germany. From there, we will offer specialised assistance to German companies doing business in Russia and to private persons seeking help on Russian related issues. We believe it is important to have an expert on location, to meet and discuss matters in person.

Your legal issues will be in the capable hands of our senior lawyer Anna Fischer, who is heading the Cologne office.

We hope to serve our German clients even better and look forward to be in touch.

We would like to invite you to the Russia Seminar of EVOfenedex on 25 April in Amersfoort!

Create your own program by choosing from inspiring, instructive and practical workshops. The speakers are all specialists within their own field and most of them have more than 15 years of experience in doing business in Russia. One of the speakers is Lodewijk Schlingemann from Juralink. He will discuss “contracts and negotiations with Russian parties”.

You can also request a personal consultation of 25 minutes. The advisory meetings take place before and after the symposium. You can indicate your preference on the registration form. Would you like to have a chat or do you have questions to one of our speakers? You can meet the speakers directly at the seminar or afterwards, enjoying a drink.

Customers or relations of Juralink can subscribe for the membership price of 299.00 euros. Please do mention the special code: WMRU

More information is available on https://www.evofenedex.nl/evenementen/symposium-rusland-en-de-onderliggende-risicos-bij-export

As per February 15 the term during which foreign organizations providing E-services must file an application on tax registration will expire.

Since January 1, 2019 all foreign organizations, that sell electronic services and content to organizations, personal entrepreneurs and individuals, are obliged to pay Russian VAT to the budget of the RF regardless of whether they have a permanent representative office. All foreign suppliers must be registered in the tax office not later than 15.02.2019 via the online service “VAT-office of the IT-company”.

After the company has been registered with the tax office it will receive an INN and KPP for entering into an other service – “Personal account of a foreign company”. Through the personal account one can file tax declarations, pay tax,  communicate with and send documents.If the foreign company would not get registered with the Russian tax office and would not pay VAT, it could face severe fines up to 10 per cent of its revenues. In addition, VAT, a penalty and fine in the amount of 20-40 per cent of the unpaid tax sum will also be due by the foreign company.

Are you sure that your company does not provide e-services as listed by RF legislation?