Amedments in the field of legislation on foreign investment

1. Simplified procedure for accreditation of foreign companies’ subsidiaries and representative offices

The relevant law was adopted in its final form on February 24, 2021 and will enter into force on August 23, 2021.

What changes does the law provide for?

• The duration of accreditation procedure has been reduced – now the entire accreditation procedure will be no more than 15 working days from the date of submission of documents. At the moment this period is 25 days;

• Suspension of the accreditation procedure for correcting errors has been introduced – if the company has not submitted a complete set of documents or the documents do not meet any of the legal requirements. Previously, the state body in this case made a decision to refuse in accreditation, and the state fee in the amount of 120,000 rubles was not refundable;

• Possibility of pre-trial or judicial appeal has been provided – in the event of a decision by a state body to refuse in accreditation, such refusal can be appealed to a higher body or directly to the head of the body.

1. It is proposed to use e-mail when setting up a legal entity

Russian entrepreneurs will be able to register a legal entity at an email address without the need to use a real physical address. This concept will be called “Business ID”.

• What changes are proposed?

To introduce the possibility of using an electronic address for registering companies, where they can receive legally significant notifications from government agencies.

• What is the reason for the innovation?

Due to the transition of many companies to a remote form of work within the framework of coronavirus infection spread, many companies no longer need to have office space.

• What are the advantages of this concept?

Using an email address will solve the problem of so-called “mass addresses”, as well as reduce the financial costs of the company for maintenance of its own office.