The Ministry of Justice unveiled a draft of a new administrative code

The changes should also affect some anti-extremist administrative norms.

On January 30, 2020, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation published on the Federal portal of projects of normative legal acts, the draft of the new Code of the Russian Federation on administrative offenses. Thus, the project is at the stage of public discussing and passing anti-corruption expertise.

Extremist offenses in the new Code of Administrative Offenses are grouped and follow one after another in chapter 39 on administrative offenses, infringing on public safety. This is Art. 39.3 (production and distribution of extremist materials, now art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), art. 39.4 (excitement hatred or enmity, as well as the humiliation of human dignity, now Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) and Art. 39.5 (propaganda or public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols, or paraphernalia or symbols of extremist organizations, now Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). If Art. 39.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on inciting hatred does not undergo changes in the project, the other two are set out in it in a new editions.

Disposition of the article on the production of extremist materials remains the same, but the sanctions for legal entities are noticeably easing: in the new version provides for a fine for them in the amount of 50 to 100 thousand rubles with confiscation of materials and equipment used for their production, in while now it is from one hundred thousand to one million rubles with confiscation. Sanction for legal entities in the form of suspension of their activities for a period of up to ninety days is not provided for in the new version of the article.

Art. 39.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on propaganda or public demonstration forbidden symbolism in the new code is transformed, presumably, in accordance with amendments to the federal laws on countering extremism and perpetuating the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War on the initiative of a group of deputies headed by Elena Yampolskaya. The two parts of the article are combined in the project into one, so that the disposition takes the following form: "propaganda or public demonstration, and equals the manufacture or sale for the purpose of propaganda or the acquisition for the purpose of sale or propaganda of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols, or paraphernalia or symbols similar to Nazi paraphernalia or symbols to the point of confusion, or paraphernalia or symbols of extremist organizations, or other paraphernalia or symbols, the promotion or public display of which is prohibited federal laws. "The sanctions are the same as now in Part 1 Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, but a separate punishment is introduced for individual entrepreneurs from five thousand to ten thousand rubles with confiscation of the item administrative offense, and the list of punishments for citizens was supplemented by mandatory work for a period of forty to sixty hours. It should be noted that in the current Code of Administrative Offenses, Part 2 of Art. 20.3 (on the manufacture and sale of prohibited paraphernalia or symbols) provides for more severe penalties than part 1 (on the promotion and demonstration of such paraphernalia and symbols), so we can talk about some softening of the norm. In addition, Art. 39.5 contains a note above which the Yampolskaya group worked: "The provisions of this article are not apply to cases of using Nazi paraphernalia or symbols or paraphernalia or symbols similar to Nazi paraphernalia or symbols to the point of confusion, or attributes or symbols of extremist organizations, or other paraphernalia or symbols, propaganda or public display which are prohibited by federal laws, under which a negative attitude to the ideology of extremism, including Nazism, and there are no signs propaganda, or justification of extremist ideology, including Nazi."

As a reminder, in general, we welcome the lifting of the total ban on the demonstration forbidden symbolism, but we are not quite clear how it is proposed establish whether a "negative attitude" to Nazi ideology. We fear that this clause will cover not all cases of displaying prohibited symbols without the purpose of propaganda corresponding ideology. To prevent undue harassment, we proposed to rigidly fix in federal laws and Art. 20.3 Administrative Code communication demonstration of prohibited symbols for the purpose of propaganda, but this did not happen: obviously, it should be understood that in the new Art. 39.5 the wording "propaganda or public display, as well as production or sale for the purpose of propaganda or acquisition for the purpose of sale or propaganda" consists of two parts, separated by the words "and equally", and the purpose of propaganda is specified only for the acquisition and sale of prohibited symbols.

The regrouping affects not only anti-extremist, but and other articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses: in the draft norms relating to NGOs and political parties, combined in chapter 13 (administrative offenses infringing on the established procedure for the activities of non-profit organizations), and the articles regulating the activities of the media and the Internet - in chapter 33 (administrative offenses in the field of collection, processing, dissemination and protection of information).

The draft Code of Administrative Offenses also contains some important general innovations. and explanations. Thus, Article 2.3 introduces the definition insignificance of the offense: such "can be recognized as an action or inaction, although formally containing signs of the composition of the administrative offence, but taking into account the nature of the offense committed and the role the offender, the amount of harm and the severity of the consequences representing a significant violation of protected public relations". At the same time, Art. 2.2 introduces the concept of a gross administrative offense, i.e. one that cannot be considered insignificant. Among others, to these include administrative offenses of an extremist orientation and administrative offenses in the field of countering financing terrorism. Gross can also be recognized as "administrative offenses, expressed in a significant (gross) violation (failure to comply) with rules and regulations legislation" and entailing the onset of the consequences provided for by the articles of the code, or involving "administrative punishment in the form of confiscation, or deprivation of a special right granted to an individual, or disqualification, or administrative arrest, or administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation of a foreign citizen or stateless person, or an administrative ban activities, or the appointment of one main punishment and two additional punishment."

In addition, Art. 2.4 of the new Code of Administrative Offenses defines several types of administrative offenses: continuing, continuing and repeated, as well as homogeneous offenses. IN In particular, according to the draft code, "continuing is recognized as a single an administrative offense interrupted in time, which is expressed in prolonged incessant non-performance or improper performance by a person the obligation imposed on him, established by law or other regulatory legal act."

The statute of limitations for bringing to administrative responsibility, with the exception of a number of cases, according to the project, is one year (now - three months in most cases), and in cases of violation of legislation on countering terrorism - six years. The statute of limitations "begins on the day after committing an administrative offense that is not ongoing, or discovery of a continuing administrative offense". detection of a continuing offense (recall that in practice, continuing offenses include offenses committed through online publication), it is proposed to consider the moment of compilation or issuance by the prosecutor of a decision to initiate a case; in case it is carried out administrative investigation, - the moment of issuing a ruling on the initiation of cases of administrative offense and investigation; in this regard, it is actually proposed to consolidate the established practice.

Sources

• Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses. Draft federal law 02/04/01-20/00099059 // Federal portal of projects of normative legal acts. January 30, 2020