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Labour and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev and First Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman presented reports.

At the president’s request Maxim Topilin reported on the implementation of the concept for creating, conducting and using the Federal Registry of People with Disabilities. Under the new federal law, a system of accounting for all of Russia’s social commitments to people with disabilities must be launched on January 1 of next year.

Alexei Ulyukayev delivered a report on the main topic of the meeting – improving oversight. The minister reported on the comprehensive reform of the oversight system. Recent amendments to legislation provide for a temporary oversight exemption for small and medium-sized businesses, which are exempt from planned inspections for three years, with the exception of a narrow list of the more serious violations. This has helped reduce planned inspections for small businesses by about 20 percent.

The minister added that starting July 1, 2016 fees for small businesses will be replaced by warnings about violations recorded by oversight authorities.

Amendments on preventing violations have also been drafted. Inspectors will not only work on recorded violations but will also explain their requirements to entrepreneurs and point out unpremeditated mistakes. This means that oversight will help rather than punish businesses, helping them avoid violations and the corresponding punishment, the minister emphasised.

Alexander Buksman reported that the number of planned inspections reduces by about 200,000 a year. During the past year over 310,000 businesses were spared excessive oversight by officials.

The Unified Registry of Inspections began to work at full pace on July 1 of the past year. It included supervisors from municipal and regional oversight authorities. Buksman said any business is entitled to know the grounds for inspections, their time frame and, most important, their results.

Open access has reduced the risks of illegal inspections for entrepreneurs and enhanced the responsibility of oversight authorities.

Russia’s First Deputy Prosecutor General also said that the Prosecutor’s Office prohibits about 40 to 50 percent of unscheduled inspections as ungrounded. The President instructed the Prosecutor General’s Office to draft proposals on expanding its powers to limit unscheduled inspections of businesses.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

Before we start today’s meeting, I would like to say a few words off the topic, namely about sports.

You are all well aware of the situation with our participation in the Rio Olympics. You know about the decisions regarding doping violations. In this regard, I would like to stress once again that the official stance of Russian officials, both the Government and the President, is that doping in sports is unacceptable. Sports must be clean and athletes’ health must be well protected.

This requires close cooperation with the disciplinary commission of the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and international sports federations for Olympic and other sports.

Therefore, I believe it would be reasonable to make a proposal to the Russian Olympic Committee on establishing an independent – this is very important – public commission that would include both Russian and foreign experts in medicine and law, as well as respected public and sports activists and experts. The commission’s key task would be to quickly develop a national anti-doping plan that involves strict oversight of its implementation.

The question is of course who would be at the head of the commission. Clearly, the answer is a person with an absolutely impeccable reputation, somebody who has credibility and the respect of the Olympic family. We have a person like this in our country. It is Vitaly Smirnov, Russia’s representative in the International Olympic Committee, a member since 1971. I think we should ask him to head up the commission. I hope that he will accept as a person who has devoted so many years to the Olympic movement and the development of sports in our country.

If the commission is established, I would ask the Government to provide all necessary assistance.

Now back to the agenda. Our topic for today is improving the oversight system.

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