It is planned to change procedure of accreditation of foreign companies’ branches and representative offices in Russia

A draft law providing for amendments of federal legislation regulating foreign investments in terms of accreditation procedure for branches and representative offices of foreign legal entities is introduced to the Russian Parliament.

Therefore, which amendments does draft law provide for?

1. accreditation procedure will be shortened by 10 days. Thus, the term for reviewing documents for accreditation of separate division of foreign company will be 15 days, instead of 25 days provided for by law in current version;

• possibility to suspend accreditation procedure for up to 15 days. Accreditation may be suspended if foreign company did not provide all necessary documents or provided documents in violation of requirements for their registration;

• new grounds for refusal in accreditation, which include:
• disqualification of head of separate division of legal entity;
• debt of foreign company to the Federal budget of the Russian Federation in the amount exceeding 3000 rubles.

It is important to note that the possibility to suspend accreditation procedure is not available at the moment. In this regard if there is any discrepancy between submitted documents and established standards, foreign companies run risk of being refused accreditation of separate division, meanwhile the state fee paid earlier in the amount of 120,000 rubles is not refunded.