Practices
Industries

Legal Сosts Incurred in the Rospatent Dispute Can Be Reimbursed from The Losing Party

29 January 2024

The Federation Council has approved the draft law No. 390361-8 “On Amending Article 1248 of Part Four of the Russian Civil Code” (the “Draft law”). The Draft law will shortly be signed by the President and will enter into force 10 days after its publication.

According to the Draft law, article 1248(2) of the Russian Civil Code will be amended with a provision on the possibility to reimburse the costs borne before Rospatent from the losing party.

The Draft Law on Consumer Market Researchers Was Adopted in the First Reading

26 January 2024

On 16 January 2024 the State Duma adopted in the first reading the draft law No. 412669-8 “On Amendments to Chapter 4 of the Federal Law “On the Basics of State Regulation of Trade Activities in the Russian Federation” (“Draft law”). The Draft law proposes to introduce a number of changes to the regulation of companies engaged in consumer market research, provided they receive revenue in the amount of more than 30 million rubles per year.

Russia Ratified the Agreement on the Elimination of Double Taxation with Oman

28 December 2023

On 12 December 2023, the President of the Russian Federation signed Federal Law № 571-FZ to ratify the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Sultanate of Oman on the Elimination of Double Taxation in respect of Taxes on Income and Prevention of Avoidance and Evasion of Taxation and the Protocol thereto (hereinafter - the “Agreement”).

Subject to ratification of the Agreement by Oman and mutual notification of the parties of the ratification procedures by the end of 2023, the Agreement will enter into force as early as 1 January 2024.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Prohibited Employers from Concluding Fixed-Term Employment Contracts with Heads of Structural Subdivisions of Organisations

28 December 2023

On 19 December 2023 the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation issued Resolution № 59-P/2023 “On the Case Concerning the Verification of the Constitutionality of Paragraph Eight of Part Two of Article 59 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation in Connection with the Complaint of Citizen E. A. Selkova” (hereinafter - the “Resolution”).

Transactions Involving Intellectual Property May Require Prior Permission of the Government Commission

15 December 2023

The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has drafted amendments to Presidential decree No. 81 of March 1, 2022 (the "Decree"), which would extend the special procedure for transactions established by the Decree to transactions involving intellectual property. The draft is currently at the stage of anti-corruption expertise.

In accordance with the current version of the Decree, certain types of transactions with persons from "unfriendly" countries may be carried out only on the basis of permits issued by the Government Commission for Monitoring the Implementation of Foreign Investments in the Russian Federation (the "Government Commission").