Policy Brief on the Status and Challenges of Lawmaking for April 2021

07.06.2021
Policy Brief on the Status and Challenges of Lawmaking for April 2021

Hello, dear colleagues!

On April 28 and 29, under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the XIII International Forum of the RF CCI "Intellectual Property - XXI Century" was held in a mixed format.

The StekloSouz Association of Russia was represented at this event by its president, Viktor Osipov. As you know, "StekloSouz" of Russia is a member of the RF CCI.

6 thematic round tables were held at the Forum venues:

- "Topical issues of protection and protection of rights to trademarks and other means of individualization";

- "Commercialization of intellectual property and technology transfer: tasks, tools and solutions";

- “Franchise. Tax and corporate risks when using intellectual property objects ”;

- "Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the Pharmaceutical Sector";

- "Topical issues of legal protection of computer programs and the disposal of rights to them";

- "Management of intellectual property in business".

On April 29, a plenary session of the Forum was held with the participation of the President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin, Vice-President of the Chamber Vadim Chubarov, Deputy Head of Rospatent Andrey Solonovich, representative of the World Intellectual Property Organization Zaurbek Albegonov, Chairman of the Intellectual Property Rights Court Lyudmila Novoselova, Deputy General Director of KAMAZ PJSC Ildar Shamilov, Director for Intangible Assets of AFK Sistema PJSC Dmitry Markin, Executive Director of the National Association for Technology Transfer Alexey Filimonov and others.

The WIPO Director General, Mr. Daren Tang, addressed the Forum participants with a video greeting. Within the framework of the plenary session, the ceremony of presenting the WIPO gold medal to the Russian inventor Konstantin Chaikin took place. The keynote address was delivered by the RF CCI President Sergey Katyrin.

In his speech, the President of the RF CCI, Sergey Katyrin, outlined several important areas in which business and government, the scientific community, according to the Chamber, should actively interact: issues of commercializing the results of intellectual activity, using an innovation voucher, overcoming the lack of financial resources among copyright holders and authors.

The President of the Chamber proposed to speed up the adoption by the State Duma of the draft law "On Amendments to the Federal Law" On Patent Attorneys ", and also noted that the norms of the projected Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in terms of intellectual property issues also require revision.

Sergey Katyrin stated that currently there are no legislatively established criteria for defining exhibitions as official and officially recognized international in the country and proposed to fill this gap in the legislation.

The Chamber has extensive practical experience in resolving business disputes through mediation (the Chamber has a Board of Mediators to conduct conciliation procedures, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation has more than 60 such collegia (mediation centers). The collegiums of mediators at the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry participate in the settlement of disputes in the field of intellectual property at the stage of litigation. ”According to Sergey Katyrin, it is necessary to make wider use of the experience of the Chamber in the field of intellectual property.

Deputy Head of Rospatent Andrei Solonovich in his speech spoke about the situation with intellectual property in Russia. The pandemic made its own adjustments, but the number of applications for inventions in 2020 decreased only by 1.5% (in December 2020, there was already an “explosive” growth in applications). Many of them were associated with counteracting the virus (drugs, devices, etc.). The number of Russian trademark applications increased by 15%.

Rospatent has recently significantly reduced the time required for consideration of applications for finished products; in other areas of work, the deadlines are also seriously reduced. The deputy head of Rospatent also noted that serious changes are needed in the regulatory framework, it is extremely important, for example, to provide tax incentives.

The Forum was widely covered in the media, the Forum's events were broadcast on the Internet on the YouTube channel and in Zoom conferences. The Forum's resolution with recommendations will be sent to the state authorities of the Russian Federation.

The Chamber does not support the introduction of liability for violation of the rules for dealing with digital currency in the absence of the rules themselves

The results of consideration by the Chamber of two draft federal laws developed by the Ministry of Finance of Russia were sent to the State Legal Department of the President of the Russian Federation.

The first is proposed to supplement the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with a new article 199.5, which establishes responsibility for a systematic violation of the obligation to submit a report on transactions with digital currency to the tax authorities. For the onset of criminal liability, the amount of transactions must be over 15 million rubles.

The Chamber expressed a negative opinion on the draft law, considering the addition of a new article to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation excessive. According to the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the current Criminal Code of the RF has already established criminal liability for evasion of taxes, fees, insurance premiums, and the actions proposed for criminalization are inherently ways of tax evasion.

The Chamber considers that a formal violation of the obligation to submit any documents to the supervisory authority cannot be recognized as a crime and cannot be regulated by criminal law.

The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation is proposed to be supplemented with two new articles establishing the administrative responsibility of unregistered operators of information systems for the release of digital financial assets in information systems, as well as for violation of the rules for making transactions with digital financial assets and digital rights.

At the same time, to date, the legislation does not contain as such rules for making transactions with digital financial assets when they are accepted as payment for goods, work performed or services rendered. There is no departmental procedure and rules for reporting in the case of transactions with digital financial assets and digital currencies.

In this regard, the new compositions introduced into the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation seem to be legally incorrect, not concretized, giving a wide field for possible interpretation and, as a result, wide opportunities for unjustified bringing persons to administrative responsibility.

According to the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the size of the lower and upper limits of the fine for legal entities for committing these actions is also unreasonably overestimated, since such offenses do not entail consequences corresponding to the size of the proposed punishment.

In addition, the Chamber considers that citizens who, in accordance with the current legislation, cannot act as an operator of information systems and, accordingly, are not subjects of these offenses, cannot be brought to administrative responsibility under the new articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

The opinion of the Chamber is supported by the business community and taken into account by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia in the conclusion on the draft laws on the groundlessness of the introduction of administrative and criminal liability for violation of the rules for handling digital currency.

Regional laws on CCI

On April 12, the Law of the Samara Region No. 29-GD "On Amendments to Article 5 of the Law of the Samara Region" On the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Samara Region "was signed. According to the amendment, the Chamber acts in accordance with the Law "On the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in the Russian Federation" as an organization that forms the infrastructure for supporting SMEs.

Currently, three dozen regional laws on chambers of commerce and industry of the subjects of the Federation are in force (https://tpprf.ru/ru/reg_docs/).

The RF CCI proposed to strengthen the rights of owners of intellectual property objects when going through customs procedures

The Chamber proposed to the relevant state bodies to provide for the possibility, upon request of rightholders, to include in the customs register of intellectual property objects of patent rights (inventions, utility models, industrial designs) and geographical indications.

With respect to these intellectual property objects located in goods placed under customs procedures, the customs authorities will be able, by decision of the rightholders, to take measures to protect the rights of the owners, in particular, to suspend the release of goods.

Now the customs authorities on a mandatory basis protect the rights of owners of objects of copyright and related rights, trademarks (service marks) and appellations of origin of goods included at the initiative of rightholders in the customs register, as well as in case of detection of signs of violation of rights of rightholders.

At the same time, in relation to objects of patent law and geographical indications, such a procedure for protection by law is not provided.

The Chamber believes that the implementation of its proposals will protect the rights of all owners of intellectual property objects during customs procedures, as well as exclude possible financial losses of rightholders in the event of illegal use by third parties of the results of their intellectual activity.

The chamber made proposals to hand over to entrepreneurs a copy of the protocol of the inspection of the premises

The Chamber initiated amendments to the legislation to expand guarantees for the observance of the rights of entrepreneurs in criminal proceedings.

The prepared draft law is based on appeals from business representatives to the ZABUSINESS.RF digital platform to challenge the legality of the seizure of property and proposes to provide in Article 177 "Procedure for conducting an inspection" of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation the duty of law enforcement agencies to hand over a copy of the inspection protocol to a representative of the organization's administration if he was present during the proceedings inspection.

Now the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation does not provide for such a procedure, despite the fact that during the inspection property, documents and objects can be seized and the entrepreneur is deprived of the right to own the property of the organization for a considerable time.

Not having a document that records the seizure of documents and property, entrepreneurs are deprived of the opportunity to justify, for example, non-fulfillment of contractual obligations and timely submission of tax reports, as well as to reasonably appeal against the actions of the security forces if they believe that the seizure of property was made in violation of the law.

The Chamber believes that the proposed amendments will provide a balanced legal approach to protecting the rights of entrepreneurs.

The chamber made proposals to hand over to entrepreneurs a copy of the protocol of the inspection of the premises

The Chamber initiated amendments to the legislation to expand guarantees for the observance of the rights of entrepreneurs in criminal proceedings.

The prepared draft law is based on appeals from business representatives to the ZABUSINESS.RF digital platform to challenge the legality of the seizure of property and proposes to provide in Article 177 "Procedure for conducting an inspection" of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation the duty of law enforcement agencies to hand over a copy of the inspection protocol to a representative of the organization's administration if he was present during the proceedings inspection.

Now the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation does not provide for such a procedure, despite the fact that during the inspection property, documents and objects can be seized and the entrepreneur is deprived of the right to own the property of the organization for a considerable time.

Not having a document that records the seizure of documents and property, entrepreneurs are deprived of the opportunity to justify, for example, non-fulfillment of contractual obligations and timely submission of tax reports, as well as to reasonably appeal against the actions of the security forces if they believe that the seizure of property was made in violation of the law.

The Chamber believes that the proposed amendments will provide a balanced legal approach to protecting the rights of entrepreneurs.

The Chamber believes that the bill of the Ministry of Finance of Russia on strengthening criminal liability for illegal traffic in precious metals and precious stones needs to be finalized

The RF CCI reviewed the draft federal law “On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation” developed by the Ministry of Finance of Russia, which, in particular, expands the list of criminal acts related to the circulation of precious metals and stones.

Based on the results of consideration, the relevant government bodies have identified the following proposals:

1. The provisions of Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as amended by the draft law, provide for criminal liability for making a transaction in violation of the rules established by the legislation of the Russian Federation, as well as for illegal storage, transportation or transfer of knowingly illegally refined precious metals. The same bill proposes to introduce criminal liability for similar acts in part 4 of Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

These norms duplicate each other, which contributes to the emergence of competition between the norms of criminal legislation and uncertainty in law enforcement. In this regard, it was recommended to exclude from the draft law amendments to part 4 of Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, supplementing part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with a rule on liability for the illegal sale of precious metals, stones and illegally refined precious metals.

2. Part 1 of Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as amended by the draft law, provides for criminal liability for evading mandatory delivery for refining or mandatory sale of precious metals or stones to the state.

In the opinion of the Chamber, criminal liability for evasion from obligatory delivery for refining has lost its significance, since this evasion can be covered by a single intent to commit a crime related to the illegal circulation of precious metals and stones, provided for in Article 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Evasion in itself does not pose a public danger and cannot constitute a crime in accordance with Article 14 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the stipulated liability contradicts the provisions of the Federal Law of 26.03.1998 No. 41-FZ "On Precious Metals and Precious Stones", which does not establish a direct obligation for the subjects of mining and production of precious metals and precious stones to sell them only to the state.

Taking into account the above, the Chamber proposes to exclude part 1 of Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and to supplement Articles 15.45, 15.46 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation with provisions on administrative responsibility for evading the mandatory delivery of precious metals for refining and for avoiding the sale of precious metals or precious metals mined from the bowels on a priority basis to the state. stones.

The Chamber proposes to stimulate the protection of the results of intellectual activity

The Chamber has developed a draft federal law “On Amendments to Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation”.

The bill is aimed at improving civil legislation in the field of intellectual property protection and stimulating the legal protection of the results of intellectual activity created when performing work under contracts for state or municipal needs.

According to Article 1373 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, if a patent for an invention, utility model or industrial design created when performing work under a contract for state or municipal needs does not belong to the Russian Federation or its subjects, then the patent holder, at the request of the state or municipal customer, is obliged to provide the person indicated by him a royalty-free simple (non-exclusive) license to use an invention, utility model or industrial design for state or municipal needs.

In this case, if a patent for an invention, utility model or industrial design created during the performance of work under a state or municipal contract for state or municipal needs is obtained jointly in the name of the performer and the Russian Federation, the performer and the subject of the Russian Federation or the performer and the municipal formation, the state or a municipal customer has the right to grant a free simple (non-exclusive) license to use such an invention, utility model or industrial design for the purpose of performing work or delivering products for state or municipal needs, notifying the contractor about this.

Clause 4 of Art. 1370 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation imperatively determines that the person who is obliged to pay the appropriate remuneration to the author of the result of intellectual activity is his employer.

Thus, when a third party is granted an appropriate license at the request of a state or municipal customer, as well as when such a person is directly licensed by a state or municipal customer who is a co-owner of the patent, the remuneration to the author of the service result of intellectual activity continues to be paid by his employer, and not by the state or municipal customer. ...

The Chamber believes that such an approach actually causes economic damage to the author's employer and, in general, does not stimulate legal protection of the results of intellectual activity created when performing work under a state or municipal contract for state or municipal needs.

The bill of the Chamber proposes to revise this approach and establish that if a third party is granted an appropriate license at the request of a state or municipal customer, as well as when such a person is granted a license directly by a state or municipal customer who is a co-owner of the patent, the remuneration to the author of the service result of intellectual activity is paid by the state or the municipal customer, not the author's employer.

The bill has been sent to the Government of the Russian Federation for an official review.

Short:

On April 5, the Government of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma a draft federal law No. 1143531-7 "On Amendments to Article 171-1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation." The bill proposes to supplement the dispositions of parts one and three of Article 171.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "" Production, acquisition, storage, transportation or sale of goods and products without labeling and (or) applying information provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation ", establishing responsibility not only for production, acquisition, storage, transportation for the purpose of marketing or marketing of goods and products or food products, respectively, without marking and (or) applying information, but also for the same actions using deliberately counterfeit means of identification for marking goods.

On April 5, Federal Law No. 76-FZ "On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation" was signed, the provisions of which establish lower fines for small financial organizations.

Prior to the introduction of these amendments, the sanctions provided for by Articles 19.5 and 19.7.3 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation were equally imposed on both large organizations of the financial market (for example, banks) and small organizations - credit consumer cooperatives, agricultural consumer credit cooperatives, pawnshops and microfinance organizations.

On April 5, the Government of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma a draft federal law No. 1143311-7 "On Amending Articles 30.12 and 31.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation."

The draft law proposes to supplement Article 30.12 of the Administrative Code with Part 6, which provides for the possibility of appealing against decisions that have entered into legal force in a case of an administrative offense in the field of customs (on violation of customs rules), decisions based on the results of consideration of complaints, protests not only by persons specified in Articles 25.1-25.5 .1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, but also the owner of the property, which was the instrument of committing or the subject of such an offense, unless such an offense is related to the illegal movement of goods across the customs border of the EAEU.

For appealing decisions and decisions that have entered into legal force, it is possible to restore a missed deadline at the request of a bona fide owner.

A judge who issued a decision on the appointment of an administrative penalty in the form of confiscation of the instrument of committing or the subject of an administrative offense must suspend the execution of the decision if a complaint is filed against a decision that has entered into legal force in a case of an administrative offense pending its consideration. On the suspension of the execution of the decision, a ruling is issued, which is immediately sent to the body (official) that enforces this ruling.

On April 6, the Government of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma a draft federal law No. 1144920-7 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation for the Purpose of Digital Transformation of the Compulsory Execution of Executive Documents."

The bill proposes to include in the list of publicly available information contained in the data bank in enforcement proceedings, the taxpayer identification number of the debtor-organization, to amend the Federal Law "On Enforcement Proceedings" the date and place of birth of the plaintiff (recoverer) and the defendant (debtor) must be indicated. The bill also provides for the use of a unified system of interdepartmental electronic interaction for information exchange with banks and other credit institutions, tax authorities, as well as bodies that carry out state registration of property rights.

On April 6, the Government of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma a draft federal law No. 1144921-7 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Regarding the Regulation of Remote Participation in Judicial Proceedings." The bill proposes to amend the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and the CAS of the Russian Federation, aimed at improving the procedure for the use of electronic documents in legal proceedings, as well as consolidating the possibility of remote participation in court sessions using personal means of communication of users.

According to the draft law, a statement of claim, an application, a complaint, etc. can be filed with the court in electronic form through the "Unified portal of state and municipal services (functions)" system either through the information system of the RF Armed Forces, or through the electronic document management system of the participant in the process through a unified system of interdepartmental electronic interaction. The bill creates a legal basis for the use of the possibilities of filing documents in electronic form and remote participation in court sessions already available in courts, and also takes into account the changes planned in this area as part of the implementation of the activities of the super service "Justice Online".

On April 6, the Government of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma draft law No. 1144919-7 "On Amendments to the Federal Law" On Industrial Safety of Hazardous Production Facilities "regarding the operation of buildings, structures and technical devices at hazardous production facilities". The bill is aimed at establishing the possibility of extending the life of technical devices, buildings and structures at hazardous production facilities on the basis of the decision of the head of the operating organization. The objectives of the bill are to reduce the costs of organizations operating hazardous production facilities associated with the need to extend the life of technical devices, buildings and structures.

On April 7, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma the draft federal law No. 1145538-7 "On Amending Article 30 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation."

The bill proposes to establish that appeals (submissions) against interim decisions made as a court of first instance by the Supreme Court of the Republic, a regional or regional court, a court of a city of federal significance, a court of an autonomous region, a court of an autonomous region, a district (naval) military court shall be considered a judge of a general jurisdiction court of appeal, a military court of appeal single-handedly.

On April 12, the Government of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma the draft federal law No. 1148254-7 "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Regulating the Application of the Customs Procedure of the Free Customs Zone in the Russian Federation."

The bill proposes, in accordance with the EAEU Customs Code, to simplify the mechanism for applying the customs procedure of a free customs zone, provided for by federal legislation on special customs zones and free economic zones.

Changes are also being made aimed at creating a mechanism for completing the customs procedure of a free customs zone for waste received on the territory of the Kaliningrad region, when it is exported to the rest of the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union.

On April 19, the Government of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma bill No. 1153945-7 "On Amendments to the Federal Law" On the Specifics of Granting Citizens of Land Plots That Are State or Municipal Ownership and Located on the Territories of the Subjects of the Russian Federation That Are Part of the Far Eastern Federal District, and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation "and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" (in terms of improving the procedure for granting land plots in the Arctic zone).

In accordance with the bill, it is proposed to extend the action of the Far Eastern Hectare program, which allows citizens to receive a land plot free of charge not only for the construction of a residential building, housekeeping, but also for entrepreneurial activities, to other territories of the Arctic zone of Russia, the North, Siberia and the Far East.

Based on materials from the RF CCI.

Разместите свою организацию Зарегистрируйтесь бесплатно в каталоге предприятий на портале «СтеклоСоюз России»
Подпишитесь на новости Это позволит Вам быть в курсе актуальных тендеров, выставок, новых проектов на сайте
Следите за нами в соц. сетях Самые свежие новости и объявления в наших аккаунтах Фейсбук, Инстаграм

Господдержка предприятий-производителей строительных материалов

Новые члены СтеклоСоюза