Analytics and brochures

Over the 18 years of Russia's negotiations with the WTO and its members, discussions
have occurred in society from time to time regarding the implications of this event for the
country's economy.

The investment climate in Russia has suffered for years as a result of the undue complexity and bureaucracy faced by the foreign business community when hiring foreigners. However, on July 1, 2010, Russia cut through this red tape. It introduced a simplified procedure for obtaining employment-related migration permits when hiring highly qualified foreign specialists.

The first half of 2012 has been low key in terms of the further development of IP legislation. That said, work has continued on the amendments to the Russian Civil Code, with the corresponding draft law passed in its second reading.

Rostec up for sale

The Russian President and Government have recently been talking more about the need to optimisegroups of taxes, with high-quality economic growth depending on this. In particular, Vladimir Putin recently stressed that Russia must make its tax system more attractive for investors and competitive in comparison with the other countries of the Customs Union, even despite a risk of a shortfall in budget revenues. Without doubt, such initiatives of the Russian authorities cannot fail to cause investors to be optimistic. However, to evaluate whether the initiatives are realistic, and to assess the tax risks of business in the current year, it is helpful to look at the results of the past year.