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Russian Audit Chamber should be formed on new rules before October 1

The State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes is planning to complete the debates on the amendments to the bill no later than on March 15

MOSCOW, March 13 (Itar-Tass) – The composition of the Russian Audit Chamber should be formed on new rules before October 1, 2013. The new rules envisage a new reading of the law on the Russian Audit Chamber, the draft of which is being prepared for the second reading, First Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Alexander Zhukov told reporters on Wednesday.

The deputy has introduced the appropriate amendment to the bill together with State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin and his first deputy Ivan Melnikov.

The essence of the amendment is that “the law enters into force from the date of its publishing and further on, under the rules, which are laid down in the law, and the composition of the Audit Chamber should be formed by October 1, 2013, including its chairman, deputy chairman and all auditors,” Zhukov said. Meanwhile, this does not matter when their powers will expire. Zhukov did not rule out that the composition of the Audit Chamber may change. “It may be replaced fully, it may be left unchanged fully, there is no similar restriction,” he said.

The State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes is planning to complete the debates on the amendments to the bill no later than on March 15, Itar-Tass reported earlier. The bill will be put up for a plenary parliamentary meeting on March 19.

A new reading of the law specifies the status, tasks, functions and powers of the Audit Chamber. The key novelties are related with a higher role of parliamentary and public control, the duty of the law enforcement agencies to submit in the Audit Chamber the information to consider the submitted materials and the decisions taken before.

The chairman and six auditors of the Audit Chamber will be appointed at the posts by the State Duma, his deputy and six auditors will be appointed by the Federation Council upon nomination from the Russian president. The candidates for chairman and his deputy (no less than three deputies), as well as auditors will be nominated to the president by the Councils of the State Duma or the Federation Council, respectively.

The chairman of the Audit Chamber, his deputy and auditors will be appointed for six years. Meanwhile, the same person cannot hold the relevant post for more than two terms in succession that is to say 12 years.

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