LICENSING

ACTIVITIES REQUIRING A LICENSE

In the Russian Federation, entities of any legal form and individual entrepreneurs who do not set up a legal entity can only carry out certain activities on the basis of a special license issued by authorised governmental licensing bodies. A license is an official document which allows a particular type of activity indicated therein to be carried out within a specified period of time.
At present business and entrepreneurial activities which require a license and the procedures and conditions for licensing are established in Federal Law #128-FZ of 8 August 2001 'On Licensing Certain Types of Activities' (in the wording of 30 December 2008).
It should be noted that the Law does not apply to the following activities, for which licensing is regulated by other federal laws and other legal regulations:
• activities of credit institutions;
• activities associated with the protection of state secrets;
• activities related to the production and distribution of ethyl alcohol, as well as products containing alcohol;
• activities in the area of communication;
• commodity exchange activities;
• customs related activities;
• notarial activities;
• insurance activities;
• activities of professional stock-market traders;
• foreign trade activities;
• acquiring guns and their ammunition;
• using the results of intellectual activity by persons having the rights to such use by virtue of a Federal Law or an agreement;
• using satellite frequency resources and radio frequencies for television and radio broadcasting purposes (including the broadcasting of additional information);
• using natural resources, including subsoil, forest, plants and animals;
• activities, work and services in the sphere of nuclear energy use;
• educational activities;
• investment fund activities;
• management of investment funds, unit trusts and non-state pension funds;
• activities of investment funds' special depositaries, unit trusts and non-state pension funds;
• non-state pension funds activities with regard to pension benefits and pension insurance.

THE LICENSING PROCESS

There are common licensing requirements for various types of activities.
As a general rule, to obtain a license an applicant must lodge an application for a license with the licensing authorities stating the following:
• for legal entities - full and (if applicable) short name, legal form, location, addresses at which the applicant intends to perform the licensed activity, the state registration number of the record related to the incorporation of the legal entity and details of the document confirming the fact that data on the legal entity have been entered in the unified state register of legal entities;
• for individual entrepreneurs - surname, first name, patronymic (if applicable), place of residence, addresses at which the applicant intends to perform the licensed activity, details of the document identifying such a person, the main state registration number of the record of state registration of the individual entrepreneur and details of the document confirming the fact that data on the individual entrepreneur have been entered in the unified state register of individual entrepreneurs;
• taxpayer identification number and details of the document confirming the registration of the applicant with the tax authorities;
• the type of licensed activity which the applicant intends to carry out.
As a general rule, the following documents should be attached to the application:
• for legal entities - copies of the constituent documents (originals should be presented if the copies are not notarised);
• a document confirming that the state duty for consideration of the license application has been paid;
• copies of the documents listed in the regulations on licensing a specific type of activity and certifying the applicant's capability to meet the licensing requirements and conditions, including documents that should be available when performing a licensed type of activity by virtue of federal legislation.
The applicant may not be required to submit documents which are not stipulated by the Federal Law 'On the Licensing of Certain Types of Activities'.
As a general rale, a state duty of RUB 300 is charged for considering the application for a license by the licensing authority.
A state duty ranging from RUB 100 to RUB 100,000 is charged for granting a license depending on the type of licensed activity.
In accordance with the general rale, the decision to grant or deny a license is made within forty five days of receipt by the licensing authority of an application and all accompanying documents. Regulations on licensing specific types of activity may stipulate shorter periods for adopting decisions to grant or deny licenses.
Licensing authorities are to inform the applicant of the decision taken with regard to granting or denying a license within the indicated timeframe. A document confirming that a license has been issued should normally be made available to the applicant no later than three days after the applicant has submitted a document confirming that the state duty for granting a license has been paid.
Notification of the fact that the license application has been denied is submitted (delivered) to the applicant in writing and should indicate the reasons for the denial, including details of the act on the review of the applicant's capability to perform the licensing requirements and conditions if the reason for the denial is the lack of such a capability.
The reasons for denial may be as follows:
• the documents presented by the applicant contain unreliable or misstated information;
• the applicant or assets he owns or uses do not comply with the licensing requirements and conditions.
Upon the request of an applicant or a licensee with regard to certain types of activities directly stated in the Federal Law 'On the Licensing of Certain Types of Activities', a simplified licensing procedure may be applied provided that the applicant or licensee has concluded a contract for the insurance of civil liability or if the licensee has a certificate of compliance of the licensed activity of a licensee with international standards. The list of certificates of compliance of the licensed activity of a licensee to international standards, as well as significant terms of civil liability insurance contracts concluded by an applicant or a licensee required for the application of the simplified licensing procedure are established by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The period for which a license is valid depends on the particular activity, but in accordance with the general rule may not be less than five years. A license may be extended in accordance with the procedure established for the renewal of documents confirming the availability of licenses. Licenses are issued separately for each type of activity. It is prohibited to transfer a license to another legal entity or individual. A license becomes invalid both when an organisation is liquidated or terminates its activity as a result of reorganisation (unless it is reorganised via transformation), and when the state registration certificate of an individual entrepreneur expires.
When a legal entity has been reorganised via transformation, or has been renamed or has changed its location, or when an individual entrepreneur has changed his name or place of residence, or when a legal entity or individual entrepreneur changes the address where the licensed activity is performed and in other cases stipulated by the federal law, the licensee, its successor or another party stipulated by the federal law must apply for renewal of the documents confirming the availability of a license. An application for the renewal of a license should be submitted by the licensee to the licensing authority within fifteen days of the date when the appropriate amendments are made to the unified state register of legal entities or unified state register of individual entrepreneurs or the date when the addresses where the licensee performs the licensed type of activity changed, unless otherwise stipulated by federal law.
Activities conducted with licenses issued by federal or regional executive authorities may be carried out throughout the entire territory of the Russian Federation. Activities conducted with licenses issued by licensing authorities of a region of the Russian Federation can be carried out within the territory of that region without the necessity to meet any additional requirements. Activities conducted with licenses issued by licensing authorities of a region of the Russian Federation can be carried out in other regions of the Russian Federation once the licensee has notified the licensing bodies of the relevant region in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation.
Authorised licensing bodies are entitled to suspend a license if the licensee is administratively Habile for violating the licensing requirements and conditions in accordance with the procedure established by the Code on Administrative Violations of the Russian Federation.
Should a decision to suspend the licensee's activity due to the violation of the licensing requirements and conditions be taken by the judge, the authorized licensing body suspends the license for the term of the administrative suspension of the licensee's activities within a day from the moment the decision enters into force.
A license may be terminated based on a court decision, following an application of the licensing authority if the licensee failed to eliminate the violations that entailed the administrative suspension of the licensee's activities within the timeframe established by the judge.
The licensee must notify the licensing authority in writing of having eliminated the violations of the licensing requirements and conditions that entailed administrative suspension of the licensee's activities.
The license is renewed by the licensing authority from the day following the day the administrative suspension of the licensee's activities expires, or from the day following the day of early termination of the administrative penalty in the form of administrative suspension of the licensee's activities.
The period for which a license is valid is not extended by the period of its suspension.

AUTHORISED LICENSING BODIES

Licensing activities are performed in Russia by both federal executive bodies and the executive bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation. The Government of the Russian Federation establishes the federal executive bodies who license specific types of activities and also establishes the types of activities to be licensed by the executive bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation.
In St. Petersburg the licensing of types of activities subject to licensing by the executive authorities of the regions of the Russian Federation is generally implemented by Committee for economic development, industrial policy and trade of St. Petersburg. The acts on the basis of Resolution of the Government of St. Petersburg #177 of 10 February 2004.
Committee for Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade
16 Voznesenskiy Pr., St. Petersburg 190000
In the Leningrad Oblast, activities falling within the authority of the executive bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation are generally licensed by a sole authority, the State Committee for Economic Development of the Leningrad Oblast.
Federal executive bodies (agencies, services and other authorities) license all other activities which are not referred to executive bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation.