President Putin signed the federal law "On Amendments to the Federal Law 'On the Fundamentals of Tourism Activities in the Russian Federation'."

The new law establishes financial support for the responsibility of tour operators to consumers of tourism services, and also clarifies the forms and methods of state regulation in the field of tourism, and the conditions for the sale of tourism products. As financial security, a bank guarantee or liability insurance is provided for tour operators, which must ensure the proper fulfillment of obligations under contracts for the sale of “tourist products” concluded with consumers of tourism services. The presence of a bank guarantee or a tour operator liability insurance agreement is one of the mandatory conditions for the implementation of tour operator activities. The law determines the size and validity period of financial security, as well as the grounds and procedure for payment of insurance compensation and amounts of money under a bank guarantee. Another mandatory condition for carrying out activities in the field of providing tourism services is the inclusion of a tour operator in the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators, which is due to the termination of licensing of tour operator and travel agency activities from January 1, 2007. The federal law regulates the procedure for entering information about a tour operator into the register and establishes the grounds for refusing entry into the register.

LABOR EXCHANGE Russians are invited to move

The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), Alexander Shokhin, proposed attracting Russians from depressed areas of the country to regions with a shortage of labor resources.

The head of the RSPP considers it appropriate, along with the implementation of the program for the resettlement of compatriots from abroad, to begin a program for the resettlement of Russians from depressed regions. He informed the President of the Russian Federation and business colleagues about his idea. “In many regions of the country, there is now a lack of not only qualified, but also any labor force. In order to build processing plants, roads and other infrastructure there, you need to import workers. They need to be taken somewhere,” explained Mr. Shokhin. According to him, many large companies are ready to build dormitories and solve social issues for such displaced people. However, the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs believes that this must be done in partnership with the state. Business, he said, is ready to take on professional training. Alexander Shokhin recalled that the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs is currently implementing a pilot program to develop professional and educational standards, within the framework of which the requirements for specialists that the market now needs will be determined. “Thus, here (in Russia) we will find several million people (to work in the newly created processing industries),” summed up the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

CONSUMER BASKET Moldovan wine is promised a comeback

The head of Rospotrebnadzor, Gennady Onishchenko, said that wine from Moldova will soon return to Russia, but “at first, its rights will be infringed” in comparison with the products of winemakers from other countries present on the domestic market.

According to the head of Rospotrebnadzor, after Russia introduced last year’s ban on the import of wine, Moldova, unlike Georgia, “has made progress in eliminating existing shortcomings.” “At the first stage, we will control every shipment of Moldovan wine at the Russian border,” Mr. Onishchenko emphasized. This, the head of the control agency admitted, “means significant discrimination compared to other suppliers who receive the appropriate certificate and do not encounter other types of restrictions at the border.” Gennady Onishchenko noted that so far the elimination of shortcomings by Moldovan winemakers has been “confirmed only at the document level.” According to him, “everything needs to be checked on the spot, for which our specialists will soon go to Moldova.”

Now children living near Moscow will cost their parents a fifth of their cost

RECONSCIENCE Moscow region raises fees for kindergartens

The Moscow Regional Duma adopted a law on increasing fees for child care in kindergartens in the Moscow region. The payment will be increased retroactively: from January 1, 2007.

In the Moscow region there are now about 216 thousand children attending preschool institutions. On average in the Moscow region, maintaining one child in kindergarten costs 5 thousand rubles. According to the new Moscow region law, this year parents will have to pay up to 20% of the total cost of child support - about 1 thousand rubles. per month. A fifth of the total cost of maintaining a child in a preschool institution will have to be paid by parents who have one or two children attending kindergartens. For three or more children, parents will pay no more than 10% of the total amount, and parents of disabled children are completely exempt from paying for kindergarten. It is planned to compensate parents for some part of the fees from the regional budget. So, for one child 20% of the fee paid by the parents will be returned, for two children - 50%, for three - 70%.

DEBRIEFING The authorities promise to defeat construction monopoly

First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that monopolism in the housing construction sector “can be curbed.”

“Individual officials, together with entrepreneurs, have settled on land on which they themselves do not build, and do not allow anyone in,” explained Mr. Medvedev. According to him, conditions have now been created where “those who settled on this land must either build or leave it.” The First Deputy Prime Minister admitted that when the national project “Affordable Housing” began to be implemented, it turned out that there were many more problems in this area than we imagined, including monopolists. He cited statistics: now in Russia about 20 million hectares are under populated areas. To solve the housing problem, 110-120 thousand hectares are needed, that is, 0.5% of the built-up area. “Our population density in the country is not very high, but the most delicious lands have already been distributed, we had to take measures, including through law enforcement agencies,” said the First Deputy Prime Minister. In his opinion, monopolism in the construction market “can only be fought with new, competitive proposals.” Dmitry Medvedev also said that in 2006, 50 million square meters were built. m of housing, emphasizing that “we fully met the target figures.” At the same time, Mr. Medvedev demanded that the Ministry of Education and Science improve personnel training for the construction industry. “What is happening now, textbooks from 30 years ago are a disgrace. Textbooks must be modernized, this is a federal task,” he said. “We need to revive the system of construction vocational schools, but not only the authorities, but also business, this is a joint task,” he believes.

CURRENT ACCOUNT Housing and communal services tariffs will continue to creep up

According to the plans of the Federal Tariff Service (FTS), the increase in tariffs for housing and communal services in Russia in 2007 will amount to an average of 17%. Meanwhile, according to Rosstat, in the first month of the year they grew by 11.1%.

The increase in tariffs for housing and communal services was 6.5 times higher than the inflation rate, which amounted to 1.7% in January. In January 2006, the increase in tariffs for housing and communal services was 13.8% with inflation of 2.4%. For the entire 2006, tariffs for housing and communal services increased by 17.9% with inflation of 9.0%. At the same time, according to Rosstat, utility tariffs increased in January 2007 by 12.5%, and housing tariffs by 8.2%. Thus, tariffs for water supply and sewerage increased by 12.9%, heating - by 11.9%, hot water supply - by 13.2%, gas supply - by 15.0%, electricity supply - by 11.4%. Payment for housing in state and municipal buildings increased by 8.8%, maintenance and repair of housing for homeowners - also by 8.8%, services for organizing and performing work on the operation of residential complexes, housing cooperatives, HOAs - by 8.3% , garbage removal - by 9.9%. As the head of the Federal Tariff Service Sergei Novikov promised, this year the increase in tariffs for electricity will average 10%, for heat supply - 15.5%, for water supply - 14.5%, gas supply - 15%. The head of the FTS recalled that there has been a decrease in the growth rate of tariffs for housing and communal services: if in 2005 it was 32.7%, then in 2006 it did not exceed 17.9%.

If your financial capabilities allowed you, would you buy (would you buy more if you already have) or would you not buy shares of some Russian company? (%)

Would buy 33

Wouldn't buy 53

Difficult to answer 14

Public Opinion Foundation, 1,500 respondents, January 2007.

The column is led by Dmitry Polonsky

Citizens protected from dishonest tour operators