On 24 April, the conference “The Law on Protecting Consumers’ Rights. The Manufacturer. The Seller. The Consumer” was held. It was organised by the legal team from MAA Moskvich, Legal Insight magazine and the law firm Pepeliaev Group.
The event brought together more than 100 participants, including representatives of the automotive industry, dealerships, major retail companies, the legal community and experts in consumer disputes. The central topics of the discussion were the amendments to the Law of the Russian Federation “On Protecting Consumers’ Rights”, which entered into force on 1 February 2026, how they impact on judicial practice, and legal mechanisms for combating consumer abuse.
The conference was opened by Andrey Vladimirtsev, Commercial Director of MAA Moskvich, and Renata Shangareeva, Director of Legal Affairs at MAA Moskvich.
The first session, dedicated to the impact of legislative changes on consumer disputes, was moderated by Sergey Spasennov, a Senior Partner at Pepeliaev Group. He outlined the key new developments, including a penalty being limited to the price of the goods, how to account for depreciation and the year of manufacture of technically complex goods when such goods are returned, as well as new grounds for exempting the seller from a fines.
A separate part of the conference was devoted to criminal law instruments for combating consumer abuse. Leonid Kravchinsky, a Partner at Pepeliaev Group, examined such conduct from a criminal law perspective, including as possible fraud. He emphasised that, in order to successfully establish the legal classification of such actions, it is necessary to compile a comprehensive body of evidence in advance, including documents relating to the relationship with the consumer, correspondence, properly drafted responses to complaints, the results of an internal inspection of defects, an expert examination of a product and other materials relating to each significant dispute.
Considerable attention was also given to the role of expert examinations in consumer disputes. Yuri Vorobyev, a Partner at Pepeliaev Group, noted that an expert examination often becomes a key tool enabling the court to understand the substance of a dispute and identify signs of bad-faith conduct.
Following the conference, participants were invited to support a resolution prepared by MAA Moskvich and M.Video-Eldorado. The document proposes initiating amendments to Federal Law No. 73-FZ dated 31 May 2001 “On State Forensic Expert Activity in the Russian Federation”. As participants noted, without resolving issues relating to the quality and integrity of expert examinations, any measures aimed at combating consumer abuse will not be sufficiently effective.
Further details about the conference, the participants’ key conclusions and the proposals included in the resolution will be published in the next issue of Legal Insight magazine.
