Concern for the public: officials will be fined for lack of reports from organizations

Fines of up to 30,000 rubles will appear for violating the procedure and deadlines for the publication of reports by officials. Such amendments to the draft law of the Ministry of Finance were approved on April 6 by the government commission on legislative activity. The introduction of sanctions should increase the transparency of the public sector, the authors of the bill believe. However, local excesses are not excluded, experts warn. How the mechanism will work is described in the Izvestia article.

What will officials be fined for?

In Russia, it is planned to introduce a new fine designed exclusively for officials for violating the deadlines and procedures for publishing reports of government organizations. Amendments to the draft law of the Ministry of Finance were approved by the Cabinet on April 6, a source in the cabinet told Izvestia. The amount of the fine can be up to 30 thousand rubles.

The bill will help increase transparency in the public sector and ensure a fair distribution of responsibilities within budget organizations, says Vladimir Gruzdev, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Bar Association.

According to him, the draft introduces administrative liability for failure to post or violation of the deadlines for publishing information about the activities of institutions.

"The introduction of an administrative fine for officials in the amount of 15,000 to 30,000 rubles will be an additional incentive for responsible reporting," he told Izvestia.

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What violations are we talking about and will the number of proceedings increase

According to the explanatory note, there is currently no liability for officials for failure to place and violation of the procedure for placing documents.

Additionally, the bill proposes to specify the object of offenses, moving from general formulations to more precise ones — "the procedure and conditions for granting subsidies" and "terms of contracts," Vladimir Gruzdev noted.

"Clarifying the wording is a necessary step, since replacing vague concepts with clear references to the terms of contracts and agreements will avoid subjective interpretation of offenses by regulatory authorities," the expert explained. — The law should be predictable: if an entrepreneur or the head of an institution clearly knows which condition of the contract has been violated, this excludes controversial situations.

The new document also delineates the responsibilities of officials: an accountant or an external accounting contractor should not be held responsible for errors caused by the fact that documents were not submitted on time or were issued incorrectly by other employees. This amendment should restore the legal balance: the person who committed the violation will be responsible for it.

"This approach will avoid situations where the blame is automatically placed on the accounting officer, who could not physically influence the actions of colleagues," added Vladimir Gruzdev.

Why do we need amendments?

The bill tightens administrative responsibility for posting information about the work of the authorities, Sofia Lukinova, head of the legal department of VMT Consult, confirmed.

"The problem is that the regulatory authorities regularly revealed violations of the procedure for providing money from the federal and regional budgets in the form of subsidies, and the information was not always timely received by the relevant system," she said. — In fact, no one is responsible for this. Currently, only fines are provided for violations of the conditions for granting subsidies.

The document, according to the expert, closes this gap. Violations will be recorded by the financial authorities of the federal and local authorities.

The amendments are aimed at one very specific problem — low discipline in the field of statistical reporting, says Alexey Gavrishev, lawyer and managing partner of AVG Legal.

"The proposed changes are an attempt to reverse the situation by increasing responsibility," he said. — The logic here is straightforward: if a violation becomes financially sensitive, the motivation to ignore the requirements decreases. This is especially true of the primary statistical data on which the entire accounting system is based.

The amendments should improve discipline and make practice more uniform, Alexey Gavrishev believes. When the rules and sanctions become tougher and clearer, the opportunity for arbitrary behavior is limited.

— But there is a risk of formal law enforcement, — Alexey Gavrishev considers. — With tougher sanctions, regulatory authorities may begin to apply the rules as strictly as possible, including for technical errors, which will create additional tension and increase the number of disputes.

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Among the advantages of the initiative, Sofya Lukinova highlighted the desire to increase transparency in the work of government agencies. There should also be increased control over budget spending, clearer administration and increased operational efficiency.

"One of the disadvantages is the increased administrative burden on officials, an increase in the total number of possible disputes, and probably excessive control on the ground," she said.

The effectiveness of the amendments will depend on the balance, experts say. If increased control is accompanied by simplified reporting and clarification of requirements, the effect will be positive.