A law forbidding unscheduled inspections of businesses without the sanction of a public prosecutor came into effect on May 1st.
After the first of May, businessmen will get a hiatus from unscheduled inspections by police, fire officials, sanitary and medical officers and consumer rights agencies. As of May 1st, such visits must be agreed upon with the local prosecutor's office and can occur only after official authorisation.
The new rules have been introduced as amendments to the law "On Protecting the Rights of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs in the Process of State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control," which President Medvedev signed in April. The amendments were to come into effect on July 1, but considering the current situation and the fact that the original date provoked Vladimir Putin's surprise, it was decided to make the life of small businesses easier two months earlier than planned.
The ban on unscheduled visits will not apply to the tax inspections, and currency and banking supervision agencies which will still be allowed to inspect companies at will, without a prosecutor's warrant. All other supervisory bodies will only be allowed to enter enterprises once every three years, and stay for no longer than 20 days, the time limit set under the new version of the law "On the Protection of the Rights of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs". At the end of last week, Prime Minister Putin instructed local government bodies to work out clear rules for the inspection of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.
"There should be no more independence and administrative zeal in organising supervisory activities," the Prime Minister told an expanded meeting of the Presidium of the Presidential Council on Local Self-Government. He reminded the local authorities that their task was "not petty supervision of vending stalls, markets and shops, but ensuring normal and comfortable conditions for the work of business and investments."
The Prosecutor General's Office has said it has been ready since May 1st to fulfil its new functions and tighten supervision in areas under federal and municipal control. Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika has signed a relevant order.
The Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina has also signed an order that delineates the paperwork necessary for an unplanned inspection. This includes the application a supervisory body must file with the prosecutor's office to carry out an unscheduled inspection. At present, such inspections are carried out if individuals and companies report accident-prone situations, changes or violations of technology that threaten the health or lives of citizens, environmental pollution, damage to property, or violations of the rights and legitimate interests by companies or entrepreneurs.
The prosecutor's office can permit or forbid an unscheduled inspection within one working day following the day when the application was filed. If there is sufficient cause for an unscheduled inspection, inspectors may start the inspection as soon as they receive notification from the prosecutor's office. Sufficient cause can include danger to human life or well-being, harm to animals, plants, the environment, violations of national security, as well as in the event of a natural or human-made disaster.
Ksenia Batanova