Analytics and brochures
When it comes to fostering foreign trade relationships with the BRICS countries, Russian companies are most attracted to China and India. Around two years ago, a published OECD forecast suggested that, by 2060, these two countries will account for 46 percent of the world's GDP. These are the countries that need to be put at the heart of the measures to be planned and implemented with a view to attracting foreign capital to Russia.
Russia’s Constitutional Court has found a section of the Russian Tax Code to be invalid during a dispute between Sony Mobile and the Russian tax authorities. The ruling affects VAT paid on insurance taken out to guard against non-payment for goods or services, and will save taxpayers 18% on such insurance payouts. The decision is likely to be most beneficial for companies selling consumer goods. “Companies that defer payments for goods, work and services they have sold and insure against the risk of non-payment… will save 18% on amounts of insurance payouts they receive,” said Natalia Faizrakhmanova, a senior associate at Pepeliaev Group.
Russia is still heavily dependent on foreign medicines. While the healthcare budget heads in somewhat the opposite direction, skyrocketing prices for these medicines has been cause for heated debate. In particular, once again there are discussions over lifting the ban on parallel imports of medicines. More precisely, the topic has been resurrected, as disputes have rumbled on over several years, occasionally fading into the background. The current, temporary difficulties provide fertile ground for the argument to flourish again, which was evident by a series of disputes starting this February.
2014 saw most of the amendments to Part IV of the Russian Civil Code come into effect. The amendments were set by Federal Law No. 35-FZ dated 12 March 2014 "On Amending Part I, II and IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and Certain Items of Legislation of the Russian Federation." Yet, some of the amendments stipulated by the federal law only became effective starting from 2015.
Sergey Sosnovsky from Pepeliaev Group: I will of course hear the plenary session which will cover politics as well as the law and go to Valery Zorkin’s session. He is a very respected person.
In October 2014, the Russian Civil Code was extensively amended in relation to regulating intellectual property. For instance, a fully fledged expert examination of utility models will be conducted, rather than a formal examination. The previous absence of a fully fledged expert review resulted in there being patents that formed the basis for so-called ‘patent trolls’ to assert claims against good-faith manufacturers.