On 14 February 2025 the Draft Law No. 841857-8 “On Amending Articles 247 and 259.3 of Part One, Articles 689 and 700 of Part Two and Article 1137 of Part Three of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” (hereinafter – the “Draft Law”), providing for the possibility of registering information on the order of possession and use of real estate in common shared ownership, was submitted to the State Duma.

The development of a double taxation treaty between Russia and the United Arab Emirates ("DTT") started as early as in 2022, but the final text of agreement was not known until middle of February 2025. The process of drafting the agreement was delayed because the UAE agreed to a 10% withholding tax rate on passive income paid abroad only under the terms of renegotiation of DTTs with other Arab countries, requiring similar tax rates of 10% in such agreements.

On 10 February 2025, President Trump signed an executive order, "Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security" ("EO"): Is anti-corruption compliance on pause?

The EO establishes a moratorium on new investigations and enforcement actions under the FCPA for 180 days (with the possibility of a 180-day extension) and directs the Attorney General to review current investigations and enforcement actions within the specified timeframe, along with a revision of the guidelines governing FCPA investigations.

A draft 02/08/02-25/00154538, which is intended to update a procedure for the establishing and functioning of a medical panel in healthcare organisations (“Draft”), has been placed on the Federal Portal of Draft Regulatory Legal Acts.

On 4 February 2025, the official portal of legal information were posted:

1. Order of the Ministry of Health No. 708n of 23 December 2024 “On Approval of the Procedure for Maintaining the Register of Issued Permits to Conduct Clinical Trials of Pharmaceuticals” (“Order No. 708n”) - the document replaces Order of the Ministry of Health No. 754n dated 26 August 2010;
2. Order of the Ministry of Health No. 706n dated 20 December 2024 establishing the procedure for the Ministry of Health to publish on its website a list of medical organisations conducting clinical trials (“Order No. 706n”) - the document replaces Order of the Ministry of Health No. 752n dated 26 August 2010.

Both documents entered into force on 15 February 2025 and aim to harmonise with the provisions of the EAEU regulations, as well as to simplify the system of information resources maintenance by the Ministry of Health by abolishing the “paper” document flow.

The State Duma is considering the bill No. 818556-8 “On Amendments to Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” (the “Bill”), the authors of which propose to amend the procedure for making decisions on the use of inventions, utility models and industrial designs (“Objects of patent rights”) established by Article 1360 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

On 26 December 2024, the Federal Law No. 479-FZ “On Amendments to the Federal Law ‘On Advertising’ and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation”  (hereinafter referred to as the “Law”) was published. This Law in particular, is aimed at regulating issues of advertising of credits (loans).

On 26.12.2024, Federal Law No. 479-FZ was signed, which provides for the obligation for advertising distributors and advertising system operators who distribute advertising in the Internet, aimed at attracting the attention of advertising consumers located in the territory of the Russian Federation, mandatory contributions to the federal budget in the amount of 3% of the amount of income received during the quarter from the sale of services for the distribution of advertising on the ‘Internet’. Quarters are counted from the beginning of the calendar year.

On 19 December 2024, the competent committees of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation approved Bill No. 670471-8 "On Amending the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (in terms of clarifying liability for certain crimes against minors and against public health)" (hereinafter - the “Bill”).

On November 14, 2024 the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has published Resolution No. 52-P on the case of verifying the constitutionality of paragraph 1 of Article 308.3 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, part 3 of Article 206 of the Civil Procedural Code of the Russian Federation and Article 419 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in connection with the complaint of Mr. S.S. Shapka.