Penalties for violations in the field of public procurement are planned to be differentiated
The FAS of Russia has submitted a draft law (ID: 02/04/07-22/00129680), according to which it is proposed to establish the minimum and maximum amount of administrative fines for committing a number of offenses in the field of public procurement. In particular, for this purpose, it is planned to amend Articles 7.29-7.32, 7.32.3 of the Administrative Code – to date, fixed amounts of sanctions have been established for these violations. The independent anti–corruption examination of the developed project will end on July 27, 2022, and its public discussion will end on August 5, 2022.
Thus, the minimum amount of the fine is planned to be imposed in cases when the violator prevents the consequences of his violation, as well as voluntarily compensates or eliminates the damage caused. The maximum amount will be assigned taking into account the nature of the offense committed. In addition, the draft federal law provides that the violator for a number of compositions will initially be issued a warning instead of a fine. In particular, it will be issued in case of violations committed during the procurement procedure, during the conclusion and termination of contracts. It is assumed that the introduction of such a mechanism will reduce the level of administrative pressure on business.
In addition, it is planned to provide for the possibility of considering cases of administrative offenses by the heads of departments of federal executive bodies that are control bodies in the field of procurement in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on the contract system, their deputies, as well as heads of structural divisions of territorial bodies of the above bodies and their deputies (Article 99 of Federal Law No. 44 of April 5, 2013-Federal Law "On the Contract System in the Field of procurement of goods, works, services for State and Municipal needs"). The adoption of the amendments will facilitate the prompt consideration of cases of administrative offenses against officials and legal entities, as well as compliance with the deadlines for bringing perpetrators to administrative responsibility.