Accept this humble one: teachers and doctors will not receive expensive gifts
The proposal to increase the limit of the allowable cost of a gift to teachers and doctors from 3 thousand to 10 thousand rubles was rejected by the Russian government. Currently, this limit applies to a single gift, for example from a student or a patient, and exceeding the price can be regarded as a bribe. The author of the bill explained the need to review the economic situation, pointing out that the current limit on the cost of gifts has actually not been respected for a long time. About why a review of prices is needed is in the Izvestia article.
Is it necessary to increase the price of gifts for teachers
The government did not support the proposal to increase the limit on the allowable cost of gifts for teachers and doctors. The Cabinet of Ministers gave a negative review of the legislative project (available to Izvestia). Its author proposed to increase the legal limit on the cost of flowers and gifts for teachers and health workers to 10 thousand rubles.
The price increase should have also affected organizations providing social services, said Igor Cherepanov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Russian Bar Association.
— The prohibition of giving gifts worth more than 3 thousand rubles is fixed in Article 575 of the Civil Code, — he said. — The explanatory note to the draft law does not contain an analysis of law enforcement practice in relation to this article of the Civil Code, confirming the need to make the proposed changes, including an increase in the specified limit of the allowable value of a gift.
According to the expert, the proposed changes will lead to a violation of the unity of the applied measures to prevent corruption. This is due to the fact that the draft law does not take into account other categories of persons subject to the restriction.
As the author of the amendments, Deputy Yaroslav Nilov, noted in his Telegram channel, the current limit on the cost of gifts has actually not been respected for a long time, since prices have changed significantly since 2008, when it was established.
"For state and municipal employees, the current norms can be maintained, but for teachers and doctors, whom people want to sincerely thank or congratulate, say, on a professional holiday, it's clearly time to look at the maximum amount differently," the deputy emphasized.
In response to the deputy's request, the Ministry of Education supported the initiative, pointing out that "giving an ordinary gift or flowers to an employee of an educational organization is an unofficial established tradition, an act of expressing gratitude, a sign of attention to an employee in honor of professional holidays."
"Considering that the change in the maximum amount of an ordinary gift affects the norms of anti—corruption legislation, the rights, freedoms and duties of man and citizen, subject to a positive conclusion of the anti-corruption expertise, as well as taking into account the general economic situation, the Ministry of Education considers it possible to revise the limit," the department said.
How much can a gift cost to a teacher or a doctor?
The issue of the acceptable cost of gifts that can be accepted by employees of educational, medical and social organizations, as well as state and municipal employees, is regulated by Russian law and regularly becomes the subject of discussion, recalled Vladimir Kuznetsov, Chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Mediators.
"The bill proposing to increase the limit from 3,000 to 10,000 rubles affects a sensitive area at the intersection of civil and anti—corruption law," he said. — Currently, Article 575 of the Civil Code remains the key document setting the gift limit. This rule prohibits giving, with the exception of ordinary gifts, the cost of which does not exceed 3 thousand rubles.
This limit applies to several categories of people: employees of educational and medical organizations, as well as those who provide social services.
— Secondly, these are state and municipal employees, as well as employees of the Bank of Russia, in connection with their official position or in connection with the performance of their official duties, — said the expert. — But there is an additional, stricter anti-corruption ban for state and municipal employees.
According to the anti-corruption legislation, such persons are prohibited from receiving any gifts in connection with the performance of official duties, with the exception of those related to protocol, business trips and other official events.
"Gifts received at official events and exceeding 3,000 rubles are recognized as the property of Russia, a constituent entity of the Russian Federation or a municipal entity and are subject to surrender," he said. — Thus, for civil servants, the limit of 3 thousand rubles actually remains the threshold after which the gift must be handed over, and not just the acceptable cost.
The question of how to apply the limit of 3,000 rubles to gifts given jointly, for example, from a class to a teacher or from a group of patients to a doctor, is one of the most controversial in law enforcement practice, Vladimir Kuznetsov added.
— Judicial practice and explanations of relevant departments, as a rule, proceed from the fact that the limit is not multiplied by the number of donors, — the expert explained. — In other words, if 30 people give one gift worth 10 thousand rubles, it exceeds the limit established by law, even if the share of each donor is only 333 rubles. This is done to eliminate a loophole that allows circumventing the law by formally dividing the cost of an expensive gift among multiple donors.
Gifts within the meaning of Article 575 include any items and property goods that have a value assessment, including flowers, sweets and other tokens of attention, added Ekaterina Kosareva, managing partner of the analytical agency VMT Consult.
"However, in practice, such gifts, as a rule, do not become the subject of law enforcement disputes due to their low cost and obvious domestic nature," she said.
Why didn't you take the initiative
The bill proposing to increase the limit from 3,000 to 10,000 rubles for employees of educational, medical and social organizations is controversial, said Vladimir Kuznetsov.
"On the one hand, an increase in the limit can be considered a socially justified step, since the amount of 3,000 rubles set many years ago does not correspond to modern economic realities and purchasing power," he believes. — This would allow parents and patients to express gratitude without the risk of violating the law, especially in large cities.
The initiative to raise the limit looks like an attempt to adapt an outdated norm to the current price level, but its selective nature creates risks of blurring unified anti-corruption approaches, Ekaterina Kosareva believes.
"Maintaining the previous limit for officials while increasing it for other categories may lead to legal heterogeneity and complicate monitoring compliance with restrictions," the expert said.
Vladimir Kuznetsov reminded that gifts, if they are given to a state or municipal employee, should not be related to the performance of their official duties.
— Otherwise, even a gift worth less than 3 thousand rubles can be regarded as an attempt at undue influence, although it will not be a criminally punishable bribe, which starts with an amount of 10 thousand rubles. rubles'.
Mikhail Avdeenko, Deputy Chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Education, noted that if it is necessary to review the system of limits, then for all categories of those who are subject to restrictions.
"There may be a need to discuss this issue, but it needs to be considered in more detail," he stressed. — In the complex and across all categories, not just teachers.
In his opinion, the deputies should focus on the new system of remuneration for teachers.
— Now there are very different salaries for teachers in the regions, — Mikhail Avdeenko reminded. — It can differ four to five times between regions. There is a decision of the Constitutional Court, according to which the salary portion of teachers' salaries was not less than the minimum wage. According to the monitoring conducted by the Ministry of Education at the end of the year, only 17 regions are implementing this decision.
In addition, there is no mass practice of holding teachers accountable for receiving gifts in excess of the norm, Mikhail Avdeenko emphasized.
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