Press Release, 10.12.2019

Today, Yabloko party Chair Emilia Slabunova criticised the law on protecting investments and encouraging investment at a meeting of the State Duma. The Russian parliament was examining the bill in the first reading.

“It is impossible to improve the investment climate without improving the political climate, without a radical transformation of the judicial system and all the law enforcement,” Slabunova said.

Slabunova also emphasised that in the conditions when the main regulation of business is carried out by law enforcement agencies, “there will be no other climate for investment except the Arctic [cold]”.

Yabloko Chair also told that as long as changes in the economy are proposed as taken out of the political context, any expectations from this type of economic bill would remain illusions only.

“The country needs political reforms, they can begin only with a fundamental reform of the electoral process in Russia, and it should become National Project Number One,” Slabunova said.

The politician called the bill “unsuccessful” and emphasised that it could turn out to be “harmful” because it “severely limits the circle of companies that may qualify for receiving state support.”

It should be noted that the law provides for two investment regimes. The general regime gives business only one preference – three years of stable tax conditions. “Support measures can be provided, but if they are determined by some other law that has not yet been developed, then it is unclear when this will happen,” Slabunova stressed.

The project regime establishes a “stabilisation clause” for a longer period, gives investors a number of rights, however, the proposed regime has a very high access threshold. “The ordinary business has no such opportunities, no such plans,” Yabloko Chair noted.

The bill also states that during the year investment legislation of all levels should be brought into line with it. Emilia Slabunova noted that it was simply impossible to conduct a full-fledged audit of legal acts accumulated over 30 years. “Most investors calculate the economics of their projects basing on current regulation, and all this, certainly, will negatively affect business,” Slabunova noted.

The document also provides for the repeal of laws, which constitute the legal basis of the investment sphere (federal laws No 160 and 39), without offering anything in return. “This will inevitably lead to a disorganisation of investment legislation, business will simply drown in segmentary laws and regulations,” she said.

It is necessary to amend Part 1 of the Tax Code, which is the subject of joint jurisdiction of the federation and the subjects, so that the “stabilisation amendments” could enter into force. “Regions can agree to it only under vertical pressure or only temporary workers can agree, realising that other people will have to answer for the consequences,” Slabunova concluded.

According to the politician, due to the aforementioned reasons, work with regional legislators over the bill will be very difficult and lengthy.