. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/ACC/SPEC/RUS/241
29 January 2002
(02-0448)
Working Party on the Accession
of the Russian FederationOriginal:  English
WORKING PARTY ON THE ACCESSION
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Statement of the Head of the Russian Delegation on Item B (Legislative Developments)
 of the Agenda of the 13th Meeting of the Working Party on the
Accession of the Russian Federation to the WTO
Distinguished Mr Chairman,
Distinguished members of the Working Party,
To improve the legal framework of the ongoing economic reforms and to intensify the
process of Russia's integration into the world economy, our country has been working consistently on
its legislation in order to define rules of domestic legislation which would be compliant with existing
international requirements and comparable with the WTO rules and regulations.
Members of the Working Party have at th eir disposal document WT/ACC/RUS/45/Rev.1
containing the plan of legislative work and a description of the implementation of the Russian
Government's legislative work to reform the economy as a whole.
Based on the results of the Working Party's previous meetings, Russia has defined its
legislative priorities aimed at making its domestic legislation compliant with the WTO requirements.As a result, the Government adopted on 8 August 2001 its Decisions No. 1054-r which approved a
plan for the development of ten draft laws.
I would like to inform members of the Working Party that thanks to intensive work the plan
has largely been implemented.
Above all, I would like to state that a new ve rsion of the Customs Code, which fully meets the
WTO requirements and simplifies considerably customs procedures for all parties to international
trade, was submitted to the State Duma in November 2001.  The Duma is also reviewing the draft law"On Fees for the Issuance of Licenses and the Right to Production and Turnover of Ethyl Alcohol,
Alcohol Containing and Alcoholic Products" wh ich eliminates discrimination against foreign
suppliers.
Another five draft laws on the said list were submitted for consideration by the Russian
Federation Government in the autumn of 2001 – "On Special Safeguards, Anti-Dumping andCountervailing Measures in Import of Goods", "O n the Licensing of Export and Import of Goods",
"On State Regulation of Production and Turnover  of Ethyl Alcohol, Alcohol Containing and
Alcoholic Products", "On the Fundamentals of Technical Regulation of Standardization, Certification
and Conformity Confirmation", and "On Curr ency Control and Currency Regulation".
                                                     
1 Unofficial translation.WT/ACC/SPEC/RUS/24
Page 2
The draft laws "On State Assistance" and Chapter 27 of the "Customs Code Customs Duties
and Customs Fees" are at the stage of inter-departmental coordination.
The new version of the law "On State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activity" has reached the
final stage of development.
In light of the wishes expressed by members of the Working Party and for the purposes of
transparency these draft laws have been placed on the Ministry's web-site and have been handed overto some countries in response to their requests for further examination and comments.
We shall look at these and other draft laws in greater detail when we discuss document
WT/ACC/RUS/20/Rev.1.
And now I would like to pass the floor to A. Likhachev who is a member of our delegation,
and Deputy of the State Duma.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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