The government of the Russian Federation introduced a moratorium on scheduled inspections of small businesses in 2021

The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin signed the corresponding decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.

The document establishes that scheduled inspections in respect of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs that are small businesses are subject to exclusion from the annual plans for conducting scheduled inspections for 2021.

“The exceptions are inspections of small businesses, the objects of control of which are classified as extremely high and high risk, as well as in respect of which a regime of permanent state control (supervision) has been established”, said Aleksandr Vdovin, Director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Licensing, Control and Supervision Activities, Accreditation and Self-regulation.

These measures will avoid a significant increase in inspections in 2021 compared to 2020 and previous years, which will significantly reduce the administrative burden on a large number of small businesses.

In addition, the decree provides for other measures designed to reduce the burden on business entities in general, as well as create conditions for implementation of the Federal Law No. 248-FZ of July 31, 2020 “On State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control in the Russian Federation” which comes into force on July 1, 2020:

1. Possibility of conducting field inspections in 2021 using means of remote interaction, including audio or video communication.

2. The opportunity of replacement of a scheduled on-site inspection, included in the annual inspection plan for 2021, by an inspection visit.

3. Limiting the duration of the scheduled inspection to ten working days.