Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 254 of May 4, 2022 (“Decree No. 254”) establishes additional rules for the fulfillment of financial obligations in corporate relations with foreign creditors and clarifies the procedure for the implementation of several previously published Presidential Decrees.

Presidential Decree No. 252 of 03.05.2022 (the “Decree”) introduced special economic measures due to unfriendly actions of some foreign states and international organizations. These measures are introduced because of illegal deprivation or restriction of the property rights of Russians and Russian companies to their property abroad.

A draft law has been submitted to the State Duma, proposing amendments to the rules for setting prices in civil contracts.

On April 26, 2022 the Federation Council approved a law amending Article 16 of the Law of the Russian Federation of February 7, 1992 № 2300-I “On Protection of Consumer Rights”, which prohibits sellers, performers, owners of aggregators to refuse a consumer in contract, execution, modification or termination due to the refusal of the consumer to provide personal data.

Ministry of Industry and Trade develops an order with a list of goods and brands that can be imported without the permission of the copyright holder.

On April 4, 2022, the Decree of the Russian Government No. 511 “On the Specifics of the Legal Regulation of Employment Relations and other Directly Connected Relations in 2022” came into force.

The new version of the Draft Law “On external administration to manage a company” (Draft Law) dated 12th April 2022 was introduced to the State Duma. 

The Draft Law was significantly revised, especially in part of the scope of application and the procedure of the external administration implementation. 

A Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation introduced a moratorium on initiating of bankruptcy cases at the request of creditors for the second time. The previous moratorium was imposed to support the most affected by the coronavirus economy sectors and lasted for 9 months. The current moratorium has been introduced for half a year, but the possibility of its extension cannot be excluded.

The purpose of the economic restrictions imposed in February-April 2022 is officially declared to be “changing Russia’s behavior” and exerting “pressure” on those involved in the events in Ukraine. To this end, restrictions were imposed on various sectors of the Russian economy, as well as on citizens of the Russian Federation.

Prior to the new “packages” of economic restrictions in 2022, citizens of “unfriendly states” were not included in the SDN lists by the respective states. The situation is gradually changing: now the EU, the US and the UK citizens and companies are under attack.

On 29 March 2022, the Russian Government enacted Resolution No. 506 “On goods (group of goods) in relation to which certain provisions of the Russian Civil Code on protection of exclusive rights to intellectual property objects and means of individualization cannot be applied”. Under this Resolution, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall introduce a list of goods in relation to which para. 6 of art. 1359 and art. 1487 of the Russian Civil Code are not applied provide that the said goods (group of goods) are put into circulation outside of Russia by the right holders (patent holders) or upon their consent.