Rospotrebnadzor, the agency of Gennady Onishchenko, who has become a prominent figure in Russian foreign policy, recently found itself under surveillance. The Prosecutor General's Office said that during comprehensive inspections it had uncovered numerous violations committed by Rospotrebnadzor's territorial offices.

The issue concerns counterfeit trade, which prosecutors believe the agency is not paying due attention to. The consumer market regulator is required to submit a report on the measures taken within three weeks. With its statement, the prosecutor's office essentially reminded the regulator that it has other things to do besides protecting the country from Georgian and Moldovan wines.

Russian regulators are becoming more and more powerful and meticulous – it is enough to recall the deputy chairman of Rosprirodnadzor Oleg Mitvol, who has recently become interested in oil. After the accident on the Druzhba oil pipeline in the Bryansk region, Rosprirodnadzor started talking about the need to check the entire pipeline and update up to 700 km of the pipe. According to experts, such an operation would cost the state-owned Transneft $500-700 million. Soon Mitvol turned his attention to the Sakhalin-2 project: he is going to file a lawsuit and demand that the construction of the pipeline be suspended, since, according to his department, the pipeline could be destroyed by mudflows at any moment. However, there is a whole line of people wanting to control the oilmen.

The intentions of the regulatory bodies are legal and correct. In Russia, they have a lot of work to do. But the truth that is well known to every driver - wherever a traffic controller appears, a traffic jam immediately forms - is also suitable for describing the entire Russian system of market regulation. The desire to protect Russians from low-quality alcohol for some reason only leads to the disappearance from sale of affordable wines that are permitted for sale in other countries. At the same time, counterfeit vodka does not disappear from the shelves, and the introduction of the EGAIS system has led to huge losses for the industry.

However, there is hope that the situation will change and regulators will find their own regulator. The other day, the Prosecutor General's Office pointed out to Rospatent violations that it had identified during an inspection: in particular, the patent service does not ensure proper protection of trademark and intellectual property rights, and unreasonably delays the consideration of applications. Unlike the case with Rospotrebnadzor, this prosecutor's remark is aimed rather at de-bureaucratization and simplification of the process, i.e., at weakening regulation. Of course, both inspections may turn out to be empty PR for the updated Prosecutor General's Office, but there are other examples of how regulators can still be controlled. This week, VimpelCom won a case against Rossvyaznadzor, which refused to issue the company a license to operate in nine regions of the Far East.

From the editor: Controllers, get in line