Taxi localization will be postponed for Kaliningrad, Siberia and new regions

Taxi localization requirements will be postponed until 2028-2030 for Siberia, Kaliningrad Region and new regions of Russia. This follows from the amendments to the taxi law adopted by the State Duma in the second reading on December 16.

The deputies are confident that such a step will allow small businesses to seamlessly switch to new domestic-made vehicles. For other regions, approximately 25% of the total number of foreign cars registered in the registry will be allowed to use in taxis. However, only individuals with self-employed status will be allowed to ride them.

For the Kaliningrad Region, the State Duma has proposed a postponement until March 2028. The same period is introduced for the subjects of the Russian Federation that are part of the Siberian Federal District (the republics of Altai, Tyva and Khakassia, Altai and Krasnoyarsk Territories, as well as Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tomsk regions). In them, taxi drivers can register any foreign cars in the registers of carriers for two more years. In the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, the introduction of localization requirements is planned to be postponed to March 2030.

"These measures take into account the difficult economic situation in the regions of the Russian Federation and make it possible to smooth out the financial burden on carriers. Each of them has its own socio-economic conditions, logistics, and so on," Oleg Leonov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Civil Society Development, Public and Religious Associations, told Izvestia.

The State Duma is trying to ensure that the entry into localization does not become a shock even for one region, does not lead to the departure of the taxi market into the shadows or to its collapse, he noted.

Localization requirements will also be relaxed for the rest of Russia, but this applies only to taxi drivers in private cars. It is proposed to introduce a quota of 25% of the total number of vehicles registered in the regional register of passenger carriers. Local authorities should inform carriers quarterly on their official websites on the Internet about the number of unclaimed slots. This measure should be in effect until January 2033.

An additional argument for getting into the quota is the inability to find an alternative to a particular model among domestic models, Leonov added. For example, a person wants to work in a minivan and carry large families, but there are no domestic minivans on the market. Or disabled people work in taxis, for whom it is not always possible to find adapted transport. Also, domestic manufacturers do not have special vehicles for transporting people with disabilities. Such foreign cars can fill in the gaps in these segments, the deputy believes.

The third reading is scheduled by the State Duma for December 18 and is highly likely to be adopted, he noted.

In a number of regions, usually with low incomes, small towns and minimal taxi companies, the share of self-employed cars in taxi registries exceeds 50%, Ivan Litvinov, head of the Association of the Self-Employed of Russia, told Izvestia. According to him, the introduction of quotas will automatically exclude a significant part of drivers from the legal field, pushing them into the shadows.

As Litvinov emphasized, instead of constant delays and spot changes, it is necessary to return to the idea of separate regulation of self-employed drivers in private cars through an independent legal mechanism. It is reasonable to do this on the basis of the law on the platform economy, the expert believes.

Steering wheel rule: almost 100 thousand taxi cars will not be able to be replaced due to the localization law

The lack of relaxation may lead to the departure of passenger traffic to the gray zone, experts say.

On the same day, the State Duma adopted amendments to the law on taxi localization in the second reading. According to the document, for carriers who own a car for at least six months, the deadline for entry into force of the requirements for the localization level of the vehicle is postponed to January 1, 2033.

At the end of November, it was reported that the government had supported a bill proposing to allow private taxi drivers to use private cars that do not meet localization requirements.

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