As the coronavirus outbreak still represents a major threat to society and affects most economic sectors some of the anti-crisis measures have been extended and new ones are being introduced.

Moratorium on scheduled inspections in relation to SMEs to be extended

According to the “List of instructions, resulting from the extended meeting of the Presidium of the State Council”, which was approved by the President of the Russian Federation on 24 October 2020 under No. Пр-1726ГС, the Government shall ensure the extending until 31 December 2021 of the moratorium on scheduled inspections in relation to small and medium-sized enterprises[1], except for tax and customs inspections and inspections relating to the financial and budgetary sphere. The moratorium shall not also apply to those types of activities and objects of control with a high risk of causing harm to the life and health of citizens. Thus, scheduled inspections relating to licensing and migration control, supervision over fire safety control, supervision over compliance with labor legislation, etc. will be suspended for SMEs until the end of 2021.

Tax exemptions for SMEs created from 1 December 2018 until 29 February 2020

Federal law No. 320-FZ dated 15 October 2020 “Amending Article 146 of Part Two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and Article 2 of the Federal Law “Amending Part Two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation” provides for a tax exemption for small and medium-sized enterprises created from 1 December 2018 until 29 February 2020 from the list of affected industries[2], which were unable to apply for exemptions as they could not submit reports for 2018. As a reminder, the previous version of the laws provided for an exemption for SMEs included in the register of SMEs based on their tax accounts for 2018. The amendment is already in effect and applies to tax duties from 1 April 2020.

Bankruptcy moratorium extended

The Russian Government adopted Regulation No. 1587 dated 1 October 2020 which provides for an extension of the moratorium on bankruptcy until 7 January 2021. As a reminder, such moratorium was introduced by Regulation No.428 dated 3 April 2020 for a 6 months’ term for the companies operating in the most affected economic sectors, as well as for the organizations included into the lists of systemically important organizations, strategic enterprises, as well as strategic joint-stock companies and organizations. New moratorium will only apply to the companies mostly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

[1] Pursuant to Federal Law No. 209, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) include medium-sized and small enterprises, as well as microenterprises, in which at least 51% of the charter capital shall be held by individuals or other SMEs. The share of other companies, not being SMEs, shall not exceed 49%, and the share held by the state, region or non-profit organizations shall not exceed 25%. Besides, the requirements on the number of employees and amount of revenue are to be complied with. Microenterprises shall not employ more than 15 persons, their revenue shall not exceed RUB 120 mln. Small enterprises shall not employ more than 100 persons, their revenue shall not exceed RUB 800 mln. Medium-sized enterprises shall not employ more than 250 persons, their revenue shall not exceed RUB 2 bln. Please note that all SMEs shall be included in a relevant register.

[2] The list as of today includes the following industries: transportation activities, tourism, hospitality, culture, art and leisure businesses, sports and recreation activities, including health resort organizations, catering services, additional education for children and adults, daycare services for children, organization of conferences and exhibitions, retail of non-food products, mass media and production of printed products (Regulation of the Government of the Russian Federation No.434 dated 3 April 2020)

Most restrictive measures related to labour issues are being introduced at the regional level. For example, in Moscow the restrictions are introduced by Mayor Sergey Sobianin in its Order dated 8 June 2020 No. 68-УМ, as subsequently amended. The latest amendment to the Order is dated 10 November 2020 and provides for the following restrictive measures:

• Employers must transfer at least 30% of the staff to remote work and report on it on a specialized online platform. Personal data of the remote employees should be reported as well. This procedure should be repeated on a weekly basis.
• All employees aged 65 and over must be transferred to remote work. Exceptions are made for those whose presence in the workplace is crucial to the company’s activity.
• It is prohibited to provide food services (except for the sale of goods, take-away services without entering the premises by the clients, delivery of orders and provision of household services) and to conduct entertainment events in night clubs, bars and other public places in Moscow from 11:00 PM until 6:00 AM.
• It is recommended for the companies and individual entrepreneurs whose premises are visited by citizens to ensure the registration of visitors and employees by using the QR-code identification system, which had been used in night clubs and bars before they were banned from working at night.

According to the Order of the Mayor of Moscow dated 5 March 2020 No. 12-УМ which is still in force as amended the employer must ensure that at least 10% of the staff are tested for COVID-19 every 15 days.

Annex 6 to the above-mentioned Order provides for a number of measures to be put into place by the employer who must ensure the following:

• prevent people with fever and signs of COVID-19 from working. After having suffered from an illness, the employee must provide a certificate of disability or a doctor’s certificate;
• measure the temperature of all employees first thing when they arrive to work and then at least once every four hours;
• employees should wear gloves and masks (with the exception of those working in a separate office);
• ensure social distance between employees equal to 1,5 meters and monitor their health status. If social distance between workplaces cannot be ensured, partitions should be installed.