Russian regulatory guillotine is chopping

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 02 Dec 2019 by Alex Teddy

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The Russian government approved two bills intended to reduce the bureaucracy burden facing businesses. The Russian bureaucracy is notorious for its opaque and sclerotic nature. To found a business a person in many cases has to do a paper chase all over a city, getting scores of documents signed off, each one by a different authority. The government proposes to streamline this process and simplify the process of checking that business are adhering to regulations.The particulars of the bills are that prior to being effective, new regulations must allow a period for people to come into compliance. Regulations will be subject to review every five years. Regulations which are unfit for purpose will be repealed. Business inspections will only be as often as necessary having regard to how risky the business sector is. Business oversight bodies will be judged by how effectually they obviate hazards rather than how frequently they carry out inspections. 52% of business executives state that it is harder to do business in Russia than it was in the 1990s. This is jaw-dropping! In the 1990s Russia was perceived as the "Wild East," and there were tidal waves of crime. On the other hand, people could break business regulations willy nilly if they paid off the right people.