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Civil Code Split Into Five Bills

19.11.2012 00:05 / RBC

Last week’s State Duma plenary session yielded an unprecedented decision: the Civil Code (CC) draft will be subdivided into at least five new bills. Deputies think this will expedite the passing of the new ‘economic constitution’. Their opponents say only lobbyists will benefit from pushing the right parts of the new Civil Code separately.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s brainchild, the new draft of the Civil Code that was introduced to the Duma last winter, ceases to be whole. Last Friday the decision was passed to divide the new CC into separate blocks, each of them becoming a draft bill.

This separation will ease the passing of the bills that have been agreed on by all legislators, says Head of the State Duma Legislative Committee Pavel Krashennikov. “The initial document was too massive (over 800 pages and more than 2000 comments). Debate on some of the points continues. Hence we decided to pass the first three chapters (General Principles and Private Individuals Legal Status) as a separate bill”, says deputy.

Other parts of the new CC will incorporate second reading amendments. These include bills on international private law, intellectual property, property law and corporate relations. Krashennikov says that splitting bills is permissible according to the Duma procedures. “This, however, sets a precedent”, he adds.

The Presidential Civil Law Codification Council has criticized the division of Medvedev’s project into separate legislative initiatives. Someone fears that all parts may pass simultaneously, says Deputy Head of the Council Alexander Makovsky. “The project was designed as a whole, and all of its elements form a system. The State Duma’s decision only gives lobbyists the upper hand”, he fears. “Partial” passing of the Civil Code may lead to further confusion, as internal relations between the bill norms will be destroyed, agrees Head of Corporate Practice at Sameta legal advisory firm Olga Snitserova.

Major business, on the other hand, supports the deputies. “By splitting the draft bill, we can pay more attention to really topical and controversial issues without delaying non-controversial norms. We are concerned that the long overdue new Civil Code blocks other, sector specific laws, including corporate and land laws, it also hinders resolving regulation issues and deficiencies of law”, says Corporate and Legal MG at RSPP Alexander Varvarin.

The splitting of the new Civil Code is also a welcome bonus for the MIFC Taskforce. “RSPP did not confer with the Taskforce, but we have a shared interest in this”, says Varvarin. Alexander Voloshin’s Taskforce declined comment.

The authors of the new Civil Code still disagree on a number of key issues. As a result of the delay, the initial deadline for new legislation, 1 September 2012, was missed. It appears as though new Civil Code norms will not be enacted by 1 January 2013, therefore new deadlines are 1 February and 1 March 2013. However, a month ago, member of the State Duma Legislative Committee Yuri Sinelnikov said that some norms of the new Civil Code may be enacted even later, “in a year, perhaps even two”.

Yaroslav Nikolaev

Corporate and contract lawProject Group №2