On February 15th a meeting of the public council for the protection of the rights of small and medium-sized businesses, operating under the regional prosecutor's office, was held at the Moscow Region prosecutor's office.  

Representatives of the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs in the Moscow Region, the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Science of the Moscow Region and regional business associations discussed the implementation of federal and regional measures to support business.

    During the speeches, the participants of the event noted that in the past year about 116 thousand entrepreneurs from the Moscow Region were recognized as victims.  Business assistance was provided within the framework of 60 federal and regional programs, which allowed the region to maintain the number of business entities at the level of the end of 2019 - 354 611 (at the end of 2019 - 354 974).  At the same time, the national average number of SMEs decreased by 4%.

    The meeting participants noted that during the implementation of business support measures, the interests of not all industries were taken into account, the issue of timely payment of state and municipal contracts was also difficult and remains at the same rate.

    The Regional Commissioner has made a number of proposals to improve the business situation.  For example, it was proposed to amend the resolution on issuing loans for the resumption of activities at 2% in terms of softening the conditions of the program. In particular, it was proposed to completely write off the debt on the loan while maintaining at least 80% of the state as of June 1st of  2020 year and 50% write-off while retaining 70% of full-time employees.  It was also proposed to amend the resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation concerning payment for electricity.  At the moment, payment is made in three stages: initially, by the 10th day of the paid month, 30% of the cost of the contractual volume of consumption is paid, then by the 25th day - 40%, and the final payment for the volume of electricity purchase - by the 18th day of the next month.

    As you can see, from month to month, payments overlap and place a heavy burden on the shoulders of the business.  The Commissioner proposed to redistribute large interest payments to the final payment for the actual consumption of electricity.

    In addition, the Moscow Region Business Ombudsman proposed to supplement the Federal Law "On Production and Consumption Wastes" with a rule that excludes the need to re-conclude an agreement for the provision of services for the management of solid municipal waste for individual entrepreneurs operating at the place of residence and who have fulfilled their duties as owners of solid municipal waste, including the mediation of the management organization.  These proposals were accepted for further consideration by the prosecution authorities.

    It should be noted that the interaction between the Ombudsman and the Moscow Region Prosecutor's Office is on systemic level. In particular, since September 2015, a project has been implemented for the joint reception of entrepreneurs.  And since of July last year, this practice has spread to the municipal level: a systematic reception of entrepreneurs by city prosecutors has been organized together with the heads of public reception offices of the Ombudsman in the municipalities of the Moscow Region.

    Thus, in the second half of 2020 year, 73 joint receptions were held in 36 urban districts, during which about 98 issues of entrepreneurs were considered.