The draft federal law On the Financial Market Megaregulator has been submitted in the State Duma by deputies Valery Zubov, Sergei Petrov and Alexei Chepa.
The Government has reviewed the draft federal law On the Financial Market Megaregulator (hereinafter – the draft law).
The Government previously reviewed the draft law (Government Conclusion No. 4042р-P13 of September 2, 2009) but the comments from that review are not reflected in the current version.
The draft law proposes to create a unified regulatory body for financial markets in Russia (hereinafter – megaregulator). This megaregulator’s system of administration, decision-making and funding would differ from other federal bodies, and it would exercises its powers in financial markets independently of the Russian Government.
However, under Article 114 Part 1 Clause B of the Russian Constitution, the Russian Government is responsible for conducting unified financial policy.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the provisions of the draft law contained in Article 8 Clause 1 Paragraph 2 on rendering financial services based exclusively on special permits (licenses) issued by the megaregulator do not comply with the Russian statutes establishing the conditions and procedure of licensing various types of activity in the area of rendering financial services.
Under Article 20 Clause 6 of the draft law, one cannot appeal against the megaregulator’s decision to suspend the powers of a self-regulating organisation (SRO) to regulate the activity of financial market participants, which violates Article 46 of the Russian Constitution.
In addition, the provisions of the draft law contained in Article 24 Clause 1, which includes the terms of the megaregulator’s responsibility for damage inflicted by its decisions (actions) upon financial market participants or users of financial services, do not comply with Chapter 59 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
Under Article 45 of the draft law, the megaregulator’s funding comes from the federal budget and annual targeted contributions from financial market participants, in violation of the provisions of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation.
The Government of the Russian Federation has introduced in the State Duma Draft Federal Law No. 249469-6, On Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation (in connection with delegating to the Central Bank the powers to regulate, supervise and oversee financial markets), aimed at creating and supporting the operation of a unified regulatory body for financial markets. This draft federal law has been developed to implement Clause 1 Subclause C of Presidential List of Instructions No. PR-258 of February 12, 2013, On Improving the System of Regulation, Oversight and Supervision of the Financial Market.
On the basis of these considerations, the Government of the Russian Federation does not support the submitted draft law.