Leading business associations of Russia to develop a digital contact platform for entrepreneurs
The agreement on the development and subsequent operation of the digital contact platform for entrepreneurs was signed on March 14 within the framework of the Russian Business Week in Moscow by General Director of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) Svetlana Chupsheva, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) Alexander Shokhin, Vice-President of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TPP RF) Maksim Fateev, President of Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) Alexey Repik, and President of OPORA RUSSIA Alexander Kalinin.
The parties to the agreement will form a working group that will prepare a roadmap on the creation and subsequent operation of the digital platform where entrepreneurs will be able to report instances of pressure on businesses. Members of the working group "will come up with joint solutions of organizational issues" related to the platform creation and operation.
The document says that the support and development of the digital platform will be the responsibility of the specialized autonomous noncommercial organization to be jointly established by the ASI, the CCI, the RSPP, Delovaya Rossiya, and OPORA RUSSIA.
The business associations and the ASI also agreed to address the government "for the purpose of defining the authorized federal executive body responsible for interaction during the development of the digital platform." The agreement is open and may be joined by other parties.
"Heads of law enforcement agencies have already been instructed to render you the required assistance, get involved in this work, and use the emerging mechanism to improve their activities," the Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized in his speech at the plenary session of the RSPP congress when addressing the parties to the agreement.
According to the Russian leader, the digital platform will offer entrepreneurs an additional opportunity to report instances of illegal pressure and attempts of property misappropriation.
"I expect that such cooperation will enable to make a significant step toward the improvement of the investment climate and business environment transparency so that conditions for entrepreneurial initiatives of small, medium-sized, and large businesses would correspond to the large-scale strategic aims facing our country," Vladimir Putin added.
During the annual Address to the Federal Assembly on February 20, 2019, the Russian President offered to "create a special digital platform, which entrepreneurs would use to make public any instances of pressure on business and to demand a formal court hearing."
The Russian leader recommended senior law enforcement officials to consider the incoming appeals as "an additional support" to "promptly receive the objective information they need to make decisions."
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The pilot digital platform will have been launched by late 2019. The procedure for review of complaints received on the platform about pressure on businesses by law enforcement agencies must be approved by the heads of the MIA, the FSB, the Prosecutor General's office, and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation by October 1, 2019.
