Technical regulations have been adopted that establish the requirements on the safety of buildings and structures; the scope of design documentation required to develop capital construction projects has been increased

Pepeliaev Group hereby informs:

• Federal Law No. 384-FZ “Technical Regulations on the Safety of Buildings and Structures” was adopted on 30 December 2009 and will enter into force on 30 June 2010.[1]
• On 21 December 2009 the Russian Government adopted Resolution No. 1044 dated 21 December 2009 “On Amendments to the Regulations on the Composition of the Sections of Design Documentation and Requirements on their Content.”

1. The newly adopted technical regulations establish general requirements on the safety of buildings and structures and also the design (including surveys), construction, installation, adjustment, operation and utilisation (demolition) processes relating to such buildings and structures.

At the same time, the law indicates that the technical regulations apply to buildings and structures of any designation (including civil engineering networks and systems).

The regulations establish fire safety requirements for buildings and structures, and also requirements on safety in complex environmental and man-made conditions, requirements on the safety of the accommodation, stay and use, energy efficiency, safe impact on the environment and accessibility for the disabled.

The law stipulates that buildings may be classified on the basis of various criteria, including the level of importance: high (extremely dangerous, technically complex or unique properties), low (temporary or auxiliary buildings and structures) and normal (all other buildings and structures).

The technical regulations introduce, inter alia, a mechanism for assessing compliance of said properties with established requirements. Such an assessment may be performed in one of the following ways: through construction control, state supervision of construction work, the issue of a statement on the compliance of a building or structure with design documentation and technical regulations, the commissioning of the property, etc. The law also stipulates a voluntary assessment of compliance with the established requirements.

2. Resolution No. 1044 of the Russian Government dated 21 December 2009 “On Amendments to the Regulations on the Composition of the Sections of Design Documentation and Requirements on their Content” increased the number of sections that should be included in design documentation for capital construction projects of a production and non-production nature.

The design documentation for such properties should in addition include a list of events on civil defence measures to prevent the occurrence of natural and man-made emergencies for nuclear power facilities (including nuclear power plants and storage facilities for nuclear materials and radioactive substances), hazardous production facilities, extremely dangerous, technically complex and unique properties, as well as defence and security facilities.