On Negotiations on Russia’s OECD Accession

On Negotiations on Russia’s OECD Accession

(certificate)

Anchel Gurria, OECD General Manager, visited Moscow on April 25-26, *****ssian President Dmitry A. Medvedev, received Mr. Gurria on April 25, 2011. During the meeting, the parties discussed the collaboration between Russia and OECD, in particular, as part of the negotiations on Russia’s OECD accession, approved of the work aimed Russia’s accession to the OECD Convention on Foreign Corrupt Practices in International Business Transactions of November 21, 1997, considered issues of possible expert assistance on the part of OECD in the development of the Russian economic policy, including the upgrading policy.

Participants in the OECD Board meeting devoted to the OECD 50th anniversary (May 25-26, 2011) signed the exchange letters between the Russian Federation and OECD, which evidence Russia’s intention to accede to the the OECD Convention on Foreign Corrupt Practices in International Business Transactions and which formalize Russia’s full-fledged membership in the OECD Working Group on Foreign Corrupt Practices in International Business Transactions.

So far, the issues of Russia’s accession have been discussed in all of OECD’s key committees.

Participants in the last meeting of the Working Group on Trade, Export Loans and Credit Guarantees discussed the Report on Governmental Support to the Export in Russia, held the presentation of Russia’s export lending support system in April 2011. The working group expresses support and interest in the soonest possible establishment of the Russian Agency for Insurance of Export Loans and Investments. The workshop devoted to the OECD Rules and operations of export credit agencies with engagement of OECD experts, representatives of Western export credit agencies as well as Russian companies was held in Moscow on September 15, *****ssian Agency for Insurance of Export Loans and Investments OJSC was established on October 18, 2011, at Vnesheconombank.

At the 10th meeting of the OECD Healthcare Committee held on December 1-2, 2011, the Russian party submitted a report on the progress of fulfillment of the recommendations contained in the Russian Healthcare System Review. We are expecting to receive the opinion of the Committee on the possibility of Russia’s accession to OECD as concerns healthcare.

As part of the Corporate Governance Committee, they discussed the first version of the OECD Report on Law and Law Enforcement in Corporate Governance in the Russian Federation. At present, the second version of the OECD Report is being drafted, taking into account additional information provided by Russia.

Technical workshops on insurance and non-public pension schemes were held in Moscow in June 2011 with participation of executive authorities and business. The workshops reviewed both legislative and practical dimensions of governing insurance and pension schemes.

At the meeting of the OECD Taxation Committee the representative of the Russian Finance Ministry made a report on the status of exchange of information for tax purposes, which is available to Russian bank institutions, with competent foreign authorities.

To align Russian law with OECD rules, the Russian Government signed the Order on Signing by the Russian Federation of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Affairs (of October 31, 2011, # 1904-р). This Convention was drafted by the Council of Europe and OECD and signed by 24 states, of which 17 states put the Convention into force, and the remaining 7 states are ratifying it.

The Russia overview took place on October 18, 2011, in Paris, at the meeting of the OECD Socio-Economic Overview Committee. The Russian delegation in this event was headed by Mr. A. N. Klepach, Deputy Minister for Economic Development of the Russian Federation; the event was also attended by: Mr. A. G. Tsyganov, Deputy Head of the Federal Anti-Trust Service of the Russian Federation; Mr. Ivanov, General Manager, Russo-French Energy Efficiency Center. The meeting discussed comprehensive efforts taken by Russia to improve energy efficiency. Mr. A. N. Klepach reviewed the current socio-economic situation in Russia and its developmental prospects.

In October 2011, the second discussion of Russian Overviews in terms of investments and financial markets was held in Paris with participation of the Russian Federation. Representatives of the Ministry for Economic Development of Russia, the Bank of Russia and the Russian Finance Ministry took part in the discussion from the Russian Federation.

The OECD State Governance Committee is actively working – on November 8-9, 2011, as part of the meeting of the State Governance Committee, Mr. A. N. Klepach, Deputy Minister for Economic Development of the Russian Federation delivered a brief report on the main directions of the Russian administrative report in the current period and the impact of economic and legal regulation tools on its implementation. Mr. A. Gurria, OECD General Manager, took part in that meeting.

As part of teamwork with the Committee on Information, Informatization and Mass Communications Policy, meetings of representatives of the Committee and representatives of federal executive authorities (the Ministry for Communications of Russia, the Federal Security Service of Russia, and the Federal Service for Supervision in Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications), as devoted to discussion of the Information Communications Technology system of the Russian Federation, were held in Moscow on September 12-15, 2011. The discussion of the information security review is scheduled for December 2011, and on the Information Communications Technology system, on March 2012.

As part of the Environment Protection Committee, the greatest number of OECD legal acts was discussed (nearly 60). Over the previous period, the Russian party held 15 rounds of consultations with 9 interested ministries and 17 services and institutions accountable to them, which performed extensive work to describe Russian law as to its conformity to OECD laws, and also developed the Plan for Aligning Russian Law with the Organizational Rules.

As part of the last meeting of the OECD Environmental Committee, held in October 2011, the Russian delegation (the Russian Ministry for Natural Resources, the Ministry for Economic Development of Russia) delivered a report on implementation of OECD regulations into Russian law.

As part of teamwork with the OECD Chemistry Committee in June 2011, the Russian delegation that comprises representatives of the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development of Russia, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, the Ministry for Economic Development and Trade of Russia and the Federal Committee for Technical Supervision of Russia delivered a speech on conformity of Russian law on regulation of chemical substances and mixes to OECD standards and rules, as well as on the events planned by the Russian party to align it with the standards of this organization. In furtherance of this work, the Ministry for Economic Development of Russia, together with the federal executive authorities, drafted the Plan to amend Russian law, drafted answers to questions of OECD members, in particular, on identification of chemical substances, notification of the community on threats posed by chemical production facilities, information exchange on the cross-border impact of chemical accidents, and were sent to the OECD Secretariat.

With the scope of law-making being significant, the idea is to develop the action plan to align Russian law with OECD rules in this field and have it approved by the Russian Government.

In addition, they reviewed the Consolidated Report on Russian Agricultural Policy and the Report on Russian Fishery Industry, as drafted by OECD experts.

To gain greater political support to Russia’s OECD accession, Mr. A. N. Klepach, Deputy Minister for Economic Development of the Russian Federation, met with ambassadors of OECD and EC member states on October 19, 2011. Representatives of 32 countries took part in the event. During the meeting, A. N. Klepach advised the meeting participants on the current socio-economic situation in Russia and its developmental prospects, answered several questions on the progress of negotiations on Russia’s OECD/WTO accession and creation of the single economic space. Representatives of most OECD member states spoke in favor of holding similar meetings on a regular basis. The common opinion was that such events would have positive implications for Russia’s image and draw some additional attention to socio-economic processes in modern Russia.

The resolution as to OECD membership is taken by the OECD Council based on opinions of the Organization’s specialized committees on the degree of conformity of Russian law, policy and law enforcement practices to OECD rules.

So far, the bulk of work formally required for Russia’s OECD accession has been performed.

One of the prerequisites for Russia’s OECD accession is Russia’s WTO *****ssia may become WTO’s full-fledged member by mid-2012.

The second pre-requisite is accession to the OECD Convention of Foreign Corrupt Practices. On November 23, 2011, the Federal Law on Russia’s Accession to the Convention was signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and sent to the State Duma of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation for review.