The list of Task Assignments has been published by the government press office. The deadline is 1 April 2014.

Implementing the norms of the Code was an issue raised at the 28 November meeting by First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Sergey Shvetsov.

“The Code has been drafted. The most important step is implementation, which comes next. This is where we would find assistance from the Government most invaluable, to force the Code on state-owned companies, especially the ones listed in Russia. If state companies do not show respect to the Code approved by the Government, it would hardly be fair to expect the private sector to comply with it through self-restriction”, said Shvetsov.

“But how is the Government supposed to force the Code on state companies? Through police enforcement?”, asked Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

“No, through state company ownership, through your representatives on the Board. The Board of Directors can pass decisions on gradual Corporate Governance Code implementation. The Code is not mandatory, it is simply recommended”, replied Shvetsov.

In his opinion, “the substantial discount on Russian shares is directly caused by non-compliance of Russian corporate governance with OECD standards, which makes investors, who do not wish to go into local specifics and simply act on this non-compliance, demand an excessive discount to keep companies interested in bonus issues”.

Improvement of corporate governance, Project Group №1