Draft law on administrative penalties for CSOs amended
A draft law on reducing administrative penalties for CSOs passes its Second Reading. CSOs committing a first-time offence could receive a warning instead of a fine
17.11.2020
A CSO could receive a warning rather than a fine for a first-time offence if its actions have not been injurious to people’s lives or health, the environment, national security or someone else’s property. The Bill was submitted to the Russian Duma in October 2018 and adopted at First Reading the following summer.
“The aim of the Bill is to eliminate discrimination against CSOs compared to commercial institutions. Valuable social functions are performed by these not-for-profit organisations whose role has only increased during the pandemic and so need extra support from the State in the form of a relaxation in the rules”, said Natalya Kostenko, Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on Control and Regulation.
The Bill was finalised during its Second Reading. At the request of the Russian government, the draft legislation includes a number of provisions under which the replacement of a fine with a warning would be not be appropriate, e.g. CSOs disseminating information that could be useful to terrorists or extremists and committing an offence by carrying out actions that are deemed to be those of a foreign agent.
