Decree of the RF Government No. 712 “On temporary suspension of technical regulations “On requirements for automobile and aviation gasoline, diesel and marine fuel, fuel for jet engines and residual fuel oil” dated 25 September 2008
The technical regulations have been suspended as of 7 October until 31 December 2008. The RF Ministry of Energy was instructed to prepare a draft decree of the RF Government on amending these technical regulations by 1 December 2008 in coordination with the RF Ministry of Industry and Energy, the RF Ministry for Economic Development, the RF Ministry of Transport and the RF Ministry of Finance.
Decree of the RF Government No. 697 “On approval of a regulation on adoption of a decision regarding termination of the right to use the subsoil resources of the federal significance for exploration and extraction of minerals in case of geological exploration of subsoil under a combined license” dated 16 September 2008
Exploration and extraction of mineral resources on the subsoil plot of federal significance provided for use under a combined license may be performed based on the Decision of the RF Government on possibility to perform exploration and extraction of mineral resources on this subsoil plot only upon completion of geological survey of this subsoil plot.
The subsoil user, which is a legal entity with participation of foreign investors or a foreign investor, should file an application and required documents with the Subsoil Use Federal Agency (“Rosnedra”) for considering the opportunity of exploration and extraction of mineral resources on relevant subsoil plot. If based on the review of the documents by various state authorities the RF Ministry for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and the Relief of Natural Disasters and the RF Federal Security Service reject the approval, the RF Government will decide to terminate the right to use the subsoil plot. The ground for rejection is the threat to state defence and security.
Federal Act of the RF No. 123-FZ “Technical regulations on fire safety requirements” dated
22 July 2008
Technical regulations on fire safety requirements (“Regulation”) establish mandatory fire safety requirements (including technical ones) for production, buildings, facilities and constructions and for processes of design (including survey), production, construction, assembling, debugging, operation, storage, transportation, realization and utilisation. The Regulations enter into force in May 2009 and will be applied jointly with Federal Act No. 69-FZ “On fire safety” dated 21 December 1994.
The Regulation will replace a number of subordinate acts, construction rules and regulations which provisions mostly went out of date and created conditions for the state authorities’ abuses.
The Regulation consists of 8 sections: (i) general principles for ensuring fire safety; (ii) fire safety requirements under design, construction and operation of settlements and urban districts; (iii) fire safety requirements under design, construction and operation of buildings, facilities and constructions; (iv) fire safety requirements for production units; (v) fire safety requirements for fire safety engineering; (vi) fire safety requirements for products with general designation; (vii) assessment of compliance of protected objects (production) with fire safety requirements; (viii)I final provisions and 30 appendices containing special technical fire safety requirements
The provisions of the Regulation are mandatory upon performance of:
· designing works, construction, major repair works, reconstruction of objects of major construction work, change of functional designation, technical maintenance, operation and utilization of the protected objects;
· development, adoption, application and performance of special technical regulations which contain fire safety requirements, as well as of officially approved documents regarding fire safety; and
· development of technical documentation with regard to the protected objects.
The main purpose of the Regulations is prevention of fire, ensuring people’s safety in case of fire and protection of property from fire. In accordance with the Regulations, the protected objects are property of individuals or legal entities and state or municipal property. For the purpose of the Regulations, the property means buildings, facilities, constructions, vehicles, technical units, equipment, technical devices, goods and other property in relation to which fire safety requirements are established or must be established.
The Regulations provide for a few forms of assessment of compliance of protected objects (production) with fire safety requirements, including two new forms: 1) fire safety audit (“Audit”) and 2) fire safety declaration (“Declaration”).
Purpose of the Audit is assessment of fire risk and control of compliance of protected objects (territories, buildings, constructions, vehicles, technical units, equipment, technical devices, goods and other property) of companies being potential source of fire danger (“Enterprises”) with the established fire safety requirements. However, documents regulating the Audit are not yet developed.
Meanwhile, according to the RF Ministry for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and the Relief of Natural Disasters, Enterprises will be entitled to choose who will perform control and supervision over their fire safety: an audit company or state fire marshals (“Gospozharnadzor”). At the same time, protected objects which have special importance for national security, socially important objects and objects of mass people stay will remain subject to control and supervision by Gospozharnadzor.
The Audit will be held on the basis of an agreement between an audit company and Enterprises. Audit companies are commercial companies which specialists (experts) will have special qualification confirmed by a certificate of fire safetyauditor. Audit companies and their experts will obtain accreditation, giving right to conduct independent risk assessments. Auditors will have to unsure their professional liability.
Auditors will be entitled to issue reports of audits and proposals on elimination of violations of fire safety requirements revealed during the audits. However, it is not clear yet whether Auditors will be entitled to notify Gospozhnadzor if Enterprises refuse to eliminate the revealed violations.
In addition to the Regulation, in some cases Enterprises will be obliged to insure their civil liability to third parties that may arise as a result of fire accidents. According to the draft Federal Act “On obligatory insurance of civil liability of the owner of hazardous object for damage infliction as a result of accident on the hazardous object”, obtaining of insurance policies will be conditioned by the Audit of the insured property. Enterprises which fail to comply with the said requirement may be subject to administrative liability.
The Regulation also introduces Declarations containing information on fire safety measures that aim at ensuring of the standard level of fire risk on a protected object. Declarations apply to the protected objects (buildings, facilities, constructions and production units) which are subject to state expert review of project documentation, as well as to buildings intended for temporary people stay or accommodation. Declarations shall be prepared by a developer or by a person who prepares project documentation. The declaration shall be submitted in the form of notification by the owner of the protected object prior to its putting into operation. The declaration shall include the following information: (i) a list of officially approved documents regarding fire safety the requirements of which the owner undertakes to fulfill; or (ii) fire risk assessment and a list of measures that aim at ensuring the permissible level of fire risks set forth by the technical regulations. Declarations as regards premises and buildings that were put into operation before the effective date of the Regulation shall be developed within one year following that date.
