MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. The Russian government wants to strengthen control over foreign investments in strategic sectors. On Thursday, the State Duma, lower house of parliament, has adopted a draft law aimed at improving control over such investments in the first reading.
The draft law specifies the procedure for informing the chairman of the government commission for control over foreign investment about a transaction by a foreign investor in relation to a Russian business company. After that the chairman can decide whether it is necessary to submit it to the commission for consideration.
The draft law also determines a list of business companies in respect of which such a procedure must be applied, to establish the criteria that guide the interested federal authorities and organizations in preparing proposals to the chairman of the commission.
The draft law supplements the list of information provided by the applicant as part of the application for preliminary approval of a transaction under the Law "On Protection of Competition", which is necessary to decide whether such a transaction is also subject to preliminary approval.
Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) will have the right to make decisions on the extension of the term for consideration of a petition filed under the Law "On Protection of Competition" if the transaction is subject to prior approval in the manner prescribed by law.
The FAS will also have the right to make decisions to reject the application if the commission decides to refuse preliminary approval of such a transaction.
The draft law proposes to expand the number of cases when a preliminary approval of transactions involving a Russian enterprise controlled by foreign persons is required. In particular, such a preliminary approval is required in cases where activities of an enterprise have a significant impact on the security and defense of Russia.
According to Sergey Gavrilov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Property, Land and Property Relations, the importance of the adopted bill is beyond doubt. However, he pointed out a number of shortcomings of the bill, in particular, the absence of an indication of the period during which the chairman of the government commission makes decisions on preliminary approval of transactions made by foreign investors. Gavrilov believes that the indication of such a period should be reflected in the text of the draft law version prepared for the second reading.