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State Duma Passed Amended Civil Code in Second Reading

14.12.2012 17:27 / Business-TASS

Today, the State Duma has passed in the main, second reading, amendments to the Russian Civil Code that essentially form its new edition.

Head of the State Duma Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Law Committee Pavel Krashennikov said that all the Civil Code sections have been amended. "The bill stipulates and implements the good faith principle in exercising civil rights and obligations", said the deputy.

The new Code specifies the scope of Civil Law, including corporate relations. Along with business practice, the source of civil law becomes any similar custom. "Such as a local custom to freely gather mushrooms or go fishing”, said Krashennikov.

In the second reading, amendments were introduced to an article on farming. Private farms can now obtain company status. "The current law offers private farms certain state benefits and guarantees that are aimed at boosting agricultural production in our country. However, without this amendment, the legal status of these farms would have been unclear”, stressed Krashennikov.

The Civil Code also omits mandatory notarization of transactions subject to state registration, including private real estate. The current law makes notarization mandatory for any trade with a private individual. "In the absence of a finished draft of the Notary Act and no suggested stamp duty for notarization whatsoever, accepting this norm in the Civil Law would seem impossible", said Pavel Krashennikov.

Limited legal capacity has been considerably expanded. For instance, capacity will be limited not only for alcohol or drug abusers, but also compulsive gamblers. Incapacity for metal patients will also be revised. "Depending on the type of mental disability, a person may lose legal capacity or have limited capacity", said Krashennikov.

"The new Civil Code is a major legal document of 800 pages. With this substantial amount of amendments – over 2 thousand – passing it was not easy. But, one step at a time, we managed to overcome difficulties and provide our economy with a modern up-to-date Civil Code”, concluded the Committee Head.

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