A bill has been introduced into the State Duma that will allow the government to develop general rules for visiting cafes with animals

A bill has been introduced to the State Duma that will allow the Russian government to establish requirements for visiting cafes and stores with animals. The document was published in the electronic database of the lower house of parliament.

Changes were proposed to be made to the law “On the Responsible Treatment of Animals” and other legislative acts.

“In practice, a situation has arisen in which citizens who have small breed dogs do not part with them when visiting not only cafes, restaurants and other catering establishments, but also grocery stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets. Citizens often place such dogs in baskets and carts used to carry products from counters to cash registers, and the carts and baskets are often contaminated with animal waste products, their hair, fur, etc.,” the explanatory note says.

The authors of the bill believe that conflict situations occur because of this. At the same time, according to their data, animal owners are also not sure whether they can visit catering establishments with their pet.

Marina Sedova, founder of the city club for walking dogs and helping homeless animals dog-pla.net in St. Petersburg

It seems to me that [the authors of the bill] have a rather good goal - they want to establish general rules for animal owners. They want to resolve unclear relationships about what owners can and cannot do with their dogs. Let's say they can prohibit putting animals in a cart, but if the dog moves on its paws next to the owner, then this will not be a problem. I assume that the idea will be this, and not to ban it altogether. If legislators wanted to completely ban animals in cafes and supermarkets, then they would probably talk about a direct ban, and not about developing uniform rules of behavior.

Now, according to the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation “On approval of the rules for the provision of public catering services,” public catering establishments can independently prescribe their rules for visiting, if they do not contradict the law. Dogfriendly activist and initiator of the project #withdogyoucanshop Katya Bacro told TD that SanPin standards are also not violated when visiting gastronomic establishments with a dog - this is not even mentioned .

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that the seller has no right to give preference to one person over another and must serve customers equally. Katya Bacrot clarified that issues of visiting public places with animals are regulated not only by federal legislation, but also by regional legislation - almost every municipality has a legislative act on visiting public places. And if there is no direct ban on having a dog in a public place, then “the principle applies: what is not directly prohibited is permitted,” the activist argued. Rules can be found on the website of the city or regional administration.

Anna Smolina is the owner of two dogs

Owners of small animals can carry their pets in special bags or sling carriers [in cafes or supermarkets]. The ban on placement in the basket is correct, but then the bill should sound like that. It would be unnecessary to completely prohibit the entry of small breed dogs [into catering places]. Such babies should not be left on the street.

“Such cases” draw attention to the fact that the State Duma justifies sexual harassment.

In March 2018, several Russian journalists reported harassment by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Leonid Slutsky. On March 21, the State Duma Ethics Commission found no violations in the deputy’s behavior.