On April 18, 2018, AEB organized the Conference “Get Ready for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia!” which took place at Metropol Hotel Moscow.

Ahead of the World Cup FIFA – 2018, which will be held in Russia on June 14th till July 15, 2018 , AEB organized a full-day Conference comprising four different sessions and covered the practical aspects of economic activities of the AEB member companies in the different spheres, such as: hospitality and accommodation, migration registration of guests, intellectual property rights, customs and transport, retail trade, construction industry and building material suppliers, legal and others.

The plenary session was opened by Frank Schauff, AEB CEO, moderated by Armin Eberhard, AEB Hotels and Tourism Committee Chair, General Director of Renaissance Moscow Monarch Center Hotel, and included the presentation of Andrey Pavlov, Head of Planning Department, and Oxana Tubman, Head of Accommodation Division of the Local Organizing Committee.

Nikolay Gulyaev, Minister of Moscow City Government, Head of Moscomsport, spoke about the preparation of the city for the World Cup FIFA – 2018, and Alexey Tikhnenko, Head of Hospitality Division, Moscomsport, informed about the main requirements for accommodation in Moscow Hotels. 

Andrey Romankov, Deputy Head of Department on Strategic Projects Development, Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communication, presented an important IT project - FAN ID. It is a unique project which has been developed particularly for WC FIFA-2018 by Mincomsvyaz. Moreover, the FAN ID provides an opportunity for fans to come to Russia without visa. 

Thereafter, Irina Shvets, Head of “Mosvolonter” Center, informed about the program of “City Volunteers for WC FIFA 2018”, the number of which is about 6 000 people, which are involved in this program in Moscow. 

The second session was devoted to the migration registration of guests during the WC FIFA-2018 and the planned amendments to the Federal Law #109 “On migration registration on foreign employees in Russian Federation” (FL 109), which has passed the first hearing in the State Duma. 

The session was moderated by Ludmila Shiryaeva, AEB Migration Committee Chair, Executive Director, EY. Alexander Aksenov, Deputy Head of Chief Migration Directorate, MVD of Russia, and Kirill Adzynov, Head of Work Permit and Visa Department, MVD of Russia, were distinguished guests of the session to brief on the forthcoming changes to the FL –109 and regulations relating to migration registration during the World Cup FIFA 2018 in Russia.

Alexey Filipenkov, AEB Migration Committee Deputy Chair, Partner, Visa-Delight, made a presentation on practical experience of migration registration procedure during the Confederation Cup 2017 and gave recommendations to the Conference participants for World Cup FIFA – 2018. 

More information about the session HERE

The third session was devoted to the particularities of transport and logistics operations during WC FIFA-2018. Vitaliy Bogachenko, AEB Construction Industry and Building Material Suppliers Committee Chair / Corporate Affairs Director, Lafarge Holcim and Dmitry Cheltsov, AEB Customs and Transport Committee Chair / General Delegate to the IRU Permanent Delegation to Eurasia moderated this session. 

Sergey Shklyaev, Head of Directorate on Trade Restrictions, Currency and Export Control, Federal Customs Service, informed the participants of the Conference on the protection of the FIFA’s IPR by Customs bodies on the eve and during the WC FIFA 2018 in Russia. It was mentioned that the seventeen objects marked by FIFA trademark had been registered in the Customs Intellectual Property Registry. 

Pavel Khilchenko, Head of department on passenger transportation, Transport Directorate FIFA 2018, informed about the modalities of transport operations before and during FIFA 2018, specifics of the passenger transportation during WC FIFA – 2018 and free ride programme in host cities. 

This session was concluded by a presentation of Rafael Zokhrabyan, Legal and Public Affairs Director, Saint-Gobain CIS, on optimization of logistic processes prior to World Cup FIFA – 2018. 

The final session was moderated by Anton Bankovskiy, AEB Intellectual Property Committee Chair / Partner, Head of Intellectual Property CMS Russia, and by Alexey Grigoriev, AEB Retail Trade Committee Chair / Head of Representative Office, Vice-President Corporate Public Policy, METRO AG, which was devoted to industrial features and legal matters. 

Nadezhda Zelenskaya, Product Direction, Auchan Russia, informed the participants of the conference about joint methods of combating counterfeit products. 

Anton Nakou, Counsel, Castrén & Snellman International Ltd., made a presentation “World Cup and legal regulation of the Hospitality industry: how hotels do not lose with a large score?”  

Another main issue -“Inviting business partners to a soccer match: compliance rules to remember”, was presented by Artem Boyko, Dr., LL.M., Lawyer, Senior Associate, OOO Rödl & Partner. 

“The regulation of advertising aspects and how not to break the FIFA 2018 law” were presented by Evgeny Oreshin, Head of Group, IP/Digital & Litigation, and Irina Shurmina, Associate, IP/Digital, from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.