Official website of the President of Russia

News   /

The Presidential decree “On Recognizing the Fact that certain Decrees of the Russian Federation have become Invalid” was developed with a view to making the normative acts of the President of Russia conform with the federal law “On Modifying Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Gas Supply in the Russian Federation”, and also with a view to liberalizing Gazprom's share trading.

The federal law of 1999 “On Gas Supply in the Russian Federation” contained restrictions on the number of Gazprom's shares that could be owned by foreign citizens and organizations. Article 15 of this law established that the number could not exceed twenty percent of the total of Gazprom's ordinary shares. The law also stipulated that no less than thirty-five percent of the total number of the company's ordinary shares must be federal property.

The federal law “On Modifying Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Gas Supply in the Russian Federation” signed by the President on 23 December 2005 stipulates a new set of rules. Of the total number of ordinary shares of the company which owns the United Gas Supply System, at least fifty percent must be owned by the Russian Federation and other joint stock companies that are in turn fifty percent owned by the Russian Federation. This amount cannot constitute less than fifty percent plus one of the total number of ordinary shares of the company.

In this way the new regulation creates a legislative basis for the liberalization of Gazprom's share trading, eliminates the divisions between markets in which the company's shares are traded, and removes the restrictions on the number of shares that can belong to foreign citizens and organizations.

The decree “On Recognizing the Fact that certain Decrees of the Russian Federation have become Invalid” was developed with a view to making the normative acts of the President of Russia conform with the federal law “On Modifying Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Gas Supply in the Russian Federation””.