Trade is one of the largest sectors of the Russian economy: it provides 16% of Russia's GDP, 10% of all taxes paid to budgets at various levels. 16% of the country's total employed population works here, and 50% of small and medium-sized businesses are also employed in the trade sector.

And this is the only industry that does not receive any monetary measures of state support. Unlike, say, the agricultural producers and even processors, whom I deeply respect, who also receive serious support from the state. (Although this is correct, especially in the context of overcoming sanctions and developing import substitution.)

I will add that until recently there was not a penny of state participation in trade, even indirectly, until a deal was made for one of the state banks [ VTB ] to buy a stake in a large chain (29.1% of Magnit shares – Vedomosti). This is what we should proceed from when we make certain decisions.

About trends. First of all, this is, of course, the active development of e-commerce. In general, the trade industry is very sensitive to all innovations. Not only here - all over the world, new technologies are being actively introduced, including artificial intelligence and digitalization. And of course, the doubling of online sales in three years is a good indicator. Yes, we are still far behind other [developed] countries, but we had a low base from which we started. By and large, for many representatives of both small and various manufacturing businesses, online sales today are one of the few available platforms for promoting products. As you know, we are currently developing a strategy for the development of trade in the Russian Federation, and there will be a separate section dedicated to online trade. The key thing is to remove unnecessary administrative barriers and prevent the emergence of new ones. The main thing is to in no way overregulate e-commerce, because it is currently showing good growth rates. And partly, probably, due to the fact that we do not interfere with it very much from the point of view of state regulation. Although, of course, certain things need to be regulated clearly, for example, those concerning the protection of the rights of consumers who purchase products in the e-commerce field.

Victor Evtukhov

Graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Finance and Economics, specializing in economic cybernetics, the Faculty of Law, a Master's degree in the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University, and the St. Petersburg International Institute of Management (IMISP) in the Master of Business Administration program. Candidate of Economic Sciences. From 1998 to 2007 - Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg (second, third and fourth convocations). Since November 2009 - Member of the Federation Council - Representative of the Government of St. Petersburg. Since February 16, 2011 - Deputy Minister of Justice, since September 11, 2012 - Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade.

Today, I was asked questions behind the scenes about the draft law prohibiting retail chains from returning food products to suppliers. Major amendments were adopted, and now the FAS and we are monitoring the implementation. We organized a serious discussion of these amendments, held an extended meeting at the ministry, where we invited all interested parties: the heads of all trade unions and associations, as well as the largest manufacturing enterprises. In general, everyone spoke in favor of solving this problem. We asked the regions, and all the regions responded. Opinions were divided: some regions spoke in favor of an unambiguous ban; many regions said that the draft needed to be significantly revised before the first reading in the State Duma. The most important thing is to eliminate unfair practices, but preserve honest practices of returning food products - not to cut everyone with the same comb. This is a very delicate issue. But I am confident that we will be able to ensure the interests of suppliers, manufacturers, and the retail industry as part of the revision of the draft.

We often hear reproaches that we lobby trade. Yes, we are responsible for it and lobby in the good sense of the word. It is important for us that the trade sector develops, provides employment, pays taxes, and this is probably one of the most transparent, controlled sectors in the domestic economy. And we are for the removal of unnecessary barriers and restrictions for the development of this sector.

Now about the legislative work. There was an order from [Deputy Prime Minister] Arkady Dvorkovich to secure the possibility of retail chains exceeding the 25% dominance threshold, which is now fixed in the law. But we proposed making an exception for situations when, after the completion of the construction of a retail facility, the share of this chain exceeds 25% of the local market. After all, when the facility is built, it is quite strange if it is not put into operation, this is simply a loss of investment. But we agreed that the share will not exceed 35%. Naturally, the FAS will closely monitor this if this project passes.

I will not now go into detail about the initiative to develop multi-format trade, primarily non-stationary. The bill is at an advanced stage of readiness, it is supervised by two deputy prime ministers - Igor Shuvalov and Dmitry Kozak (the positions are indicated at the time of the Vedomosti conference). We have finalized it as much as possible, and I am sure that we will present it to our colleagues in the State Duma in the near future.

A very important project on differentiation of state duty for issuing or renewing a license for retail trade in alcohol and improving the procedure for licensing retail. We are now proposing to reduce the amount of state duty for a license to 20,000 rubles for each retail facility. Moreover, for micro and small businesses this figure will be much lower, but a license will be issued for each facility. That is, not like now, it can be obtained for 10-15-20 facilities in one region. But at the same time, let me remind you, if violations are recorded in one retail facility, and you have a license for all, then you immediately lose the license for all facilities. We also discussed this with representatives of the retail industry and agreed that this should be exactly how it should be. Plus, introduce a seasonal license, for which the licensee will pay a fee not for the entire year, but for those months that the season is limited to. The bill is currently undergoing the approval procedure.

And about another important initiative, which I think will be of interest to many. On behalf of [Deputy Prime Minister] Olga Golodets, we have developed a draft law in which we propose a comprehensive approach to restoring state regulation of products that are alternative to traditional tobacco. These are the so-called electronic nicotine delivery systems and tobacco heating systems – IQOS. Many Russians are already starting to use these devices. This direction is now being actively promoted abroad, and smokers are encouraged to use this [less harmful] method of consuming nicotine. We believe that this method will gradually replace active smoking for our citizens. And we want to outline the requirements for such devices in a separate law.

Of course, the basic requirements of the ban on the sale of such systems to minors are preserved here, places where the use of these devices will be prohibited are defined, but the number of these places will be less than in the "anti-tobacco" law (15-FZ "On the protection of citizens' health from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke..." dated 23.02.2013). There will also be certain restrictions on sales by the volume of nicotine liquids contained for the so-called vapes, which are now quite actively used, there will be separate regulation in this area.

We also have a draft law "On retail markets and fairs" at an advanced stage of readiness. These are the most important sales channels, especially for small, medium, and regional food producers, agricultural producers, all those who have a small production volume and who find it difficult to get into retail chains. We believe that there should be many fairs in our cities and in our country. And there should be enough space at these fairs for everyone, regardless of whether you want to sell yourself or use the services of intermediaries. Then the maximum volume of manufactured products will be available to the consumer. After all, it is no secret that we have a huge amount of food produced in small farms that does not make it to the shelves. The figures are cited for different groups of goods from 50 to 80%. It is fair and market trade that will help bring this product to the consumer as much as possible. This is both competition for the consumer and competition for quality and price.

The text was prepared based on the speech at the XIV annual conference "Retail in Russia", held by the newspaper "Vedomosti" on March 29, 2018 in Moscow. The positions of the conference participants and persons mentioned in the speeches are indicated at the time of the conference

"Yes, we lobby for trade"