RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/ACC/RUS/16/Rev.2
10July1997
ORGANIZATION(97-2900)
Original: English Working Party ontheAccession
oftheRussian Federation
ACCESSION OFTHE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Information Regarding theDevelopment of
Foreign Economic Legislation ofTheRussian Federation
Revision
ThePermanent Mission oftheRussian Federation hassubmitted thefollowing information
regarding thedevelopment ofRussian Federation legislation onforeign economic regulation since the
lastmeeting oftheWorking Party heldon15-16 April 1997.
_______________
Inaccordance withtheWTO practice foracceding countries, theRussian delegation haskept
theWorking Party regularly informed ofthedevelopment ofRussia 'seconomy, regulation offoreign
economic activities andrelated matters. These subjects havebeenthoroughly discussed inL/7410,
WT/ACC/RUS/2, WT/ACC/RUS/4, WT/ACC/RUS/9 andanumber ofother documents, including
those presented within theframework ofthefifthsession oftheWorking Party onRussia 'saccession
totheWTO.
Thissubmission briefly reviews major Russian legislative andregulatory actsadopted inthe
areaofforeign economic relations between 15March 1997and15June1997, sincethelastsubmission
containinginformationregardingthedevelopmentofRussianFederation
legislation WT/ACC/RUS/16/Rev.1. Therelevant documents mentioned below aresubmitted tothe
WTO Secretariat intheEnglish language andincluded onthelistofRussia 'slegislative actssubmitted
forthismeeting oftheWorking Party (WT/ACC/RUS/19/Rev. 2).
On10March 1997, thePresident oftheRussian Federation signed Decree No.193which
contains acomprehensive listofmeasures aimed atunconditional execution oftheRussian Federation
Constitutional Court Resolution No.1-Aof24January 1997. Thisresolution requires some lawsof
theUdmurt Republic (asubject oftheRussian Federation) tobebrought inaccordance withtheFederal
lawsoftheRussian Federation, andrequires some lawsofUdmurtia toberepealed onthegrounds
oftheirdiscrepancy withtheRussian constitution. ThisPresidential Decree, andtheConstitutional
Court Resolution, which areobligatory execution byallRussian legalentities andbodies ofpower,
areextremely important. These normative documents make cleardistinctions between thepowers of
theFederal government andtheregional bodies ofpower. They create aclear-cut legalmechanism
forsecuring unconditional compliance withtheFederal lawsthroughout theterritory oftheRussian
Federation.
TheRussian Constitutional Court Resolution No.24-Pof21March 1997, alsorecognized
asunconstitutional some decisions made byRussian Federation regional bodies ofpower. These bodies
introduced regional taxesofsuchatype(onimported goods, excise-duty, etc.)which asremain underWT/ACC/RUS/16/Rev.2
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theexclusive authority oftheFederal government power. Inaccordance withthisresolution allsimilar
taxes aretoberepealed by1July1997, andthelistoftheFederal taxes enumerated inArticles 18
and20oftheLawoftheRussian Federation of27December 1991, "About theBasics oftheRussian
Federation 'sTaxSystem" beconsidered exhaustive andclosed.
LawoftheRussian Federation No.60-FZ of19March 1997"OnTheAir-Flight Code ofthe
Russian Federation" established amechanism regulating air-flights intheRussian Federation. Article 63
ofthislaw,inparticular, specially stipulates thatthesame requirements areapplied intheRussian
Federation toforeign forwarders astotheRussian forwarders.
Decree ofthePresident oftheRussian Federation No.305of8April 1997 confirmed and
brought intoforceregulations onorganizing purchases ofgoods, works andservices fortheStateneeds.
These regulations establish forthefirsttimesome previously non-existent legalconcepts ingovernment
procurement which corresponds totheprinciples andthemainprovisions oftheWTO Agreement on
Government Procurement withregard tobothtender (auction) mechanisms ofsuchpurchases execution,
andtheir transparency. Italsostipulates thenational non-discriminatory treatment forforeign
participants.
LawoftheRussian Federation No.54-FZ of13March 1997andLawoftheRussian Federation
No.73-FZ of28April 1997amended theearlier LawoftheRussian Federation "About Value-Added
Tax". Inaccordance withthese amendments, thelistofimported goods which areexempted from
Value-Added Tax,isseriously reduced.
According totheDecree ofthePresident oftheRussian Federation No.494of16May1997,
sixteen ofhisearlier decrees previously issued in1992-1994 became ineffective. Under these now
ineffective decrees, some organizations executing foreign economic activity hadbeengranted special
taxbenefits. Itshould benoted thatallindividual customs taxbenefits wererepealed intheRussian
Federation asfarbackasin1995.
Government Resolution No.478of23April 1997 made aminor amendment intheexisting
import customs dutyratestoonlytwooftheapproximately tenthousand (10,000) tarifflines. These
twominor changes areincluded intheunofficial English-language translation oftheCustoms Tariff
oftheRussian Federation submitted atthismeeting oftheWorking Party.
TheDecree ofthePresident oftheRussian Federation No.468of12May1997wereintroduced
some clarifying amendments tothelistofnuclear materials subject toexport control. Inaccordance
withthese changes thenational Russian Federation listofnuclear materials subject toexport control,
wasbrought intofullconformity withthecorrected Initial Listsprepared bytheTsanger 'sCommittee.
TheResolutionoftheGovernmentoftheRussianFederationNo.647of27May1997,identifies
thelistofmedicine andveterinary remedies, import ofwhich, issubject togovernment regulation.
These resolutions alsobrought theprovisions oftheregulation itself intofullconformity withthe
requirements oftheWTO 'sAgreement onImport Licensing Procedure. Thelicenses needed forimport
ofmedicine andveterinary remedies arebeing issued bytheRussian Ministry forForeign Economic
Activity inaccordance withtheprovisions ofthepreviously submitted document Import Licensing
Questionnaire (WT/ACC/RUS/10).
TheResolution oftheGovernment oftheRussian Federation No.648of27May1997, unifies
twoearlier existing government committees: forprotection measures andforcustoms policy. There
willnowbeestablished aunited Commission oftheGovernment oftheRussian Federation forboth
theapplication protective measures inforeign trade andforcustoms-tariff policy. ThisCommission
willbeheaded bytheDeputy Prime Minister oftheGovernment. ThisCommission isentitled toprepareWT/ACC/RUS/16/Rev.2
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proposals anddrafts ofthegovernment 'sdecisions regarding issues connected withintroducing
amendments tothecustoms tariffs andexecution ofmeasures forprotecting thelocal market in
accordance withtheprinciples oftheWTO Agreements.
TheGovernment oftheRussian Federation intends tocontinue itspolicy ofliberalizing its
foreign traderegime andmaking itsnational legislation consistent withtherulesandprovisions ofthe
WTO.