Russia Changes the Procedure for Disclosing the Income of Deputies

Federal Law of 6 February 2023 No. 12-FZ “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On the General Principles of Organisation of Public Administration in the Regions of the Russian Federation” and Certain Legal Acts of the Russian Federation” contains, in particular, the following provisions:

as regards the deputies of the legislative bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation, senators of the Russian Federation and deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, only summarized information about their compliance (failure to comply) with the obligation to submit information on income, expenses, property and property-related obligations (hereinafter, information on income, expenses) is to be published, without indicating personal data allowing for identifying the declarant and his/her assets;
as for the individuals holding the positions of top executives of regions of the Russian Federation ad interim and the holders of municipal positions of deputies of the representative body of a municipality, there is no obligation to publish information on income, expenses on the official websites of the public bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation (local government bodies) and its provisions to the federal media;
regarding the deputies of the legislative bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation exercising their functions on a temporary basis (in-service) and the holders of municipal positions of deputies of the representative body of a municipality ad interim, the obligation to submit information on income, expenses annually is replaced by the requirement to submit this information within four months from their election (transfer of a vacant deputy mandate), and after that in the event that they make transactions in the reporting period involving the acquisition of land plots, other real estate, vehicles, securities, shares etc. totaling more than the income of the official and his (her) spouse for the previous three years.

The Law enters into force on 1 March 2023.

The Law was drafted before Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 29 December 2022 No. 968 “On the Characteristics of Compliance with Anti-Corruption Obligations, Restrictions and Prohibitions by Certain Categories of Citizens throughout the Special Military Operation” that eliminated the need to publish information on income, expenses and provision of this information to the nation-wide Russian media for all categories of officials, including deputies for the period of the special military operation, which means that these legal acts contain provisions that actually duplicate each other.