Natalia Diatlova took part in improvement of the federal PPP legislation

At the end of 2018, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation developed a draft law providing for the introduction of amendments to regulatory acts regulating the PPP sphere. Natalia Diatlova, Partner and the Head of Maxima Legal’s PPP Practice, took part in the discussion and revision of the draft law.

“The adoption of amendments to the PPP legislation will raise the implementation of PPP projects in the Russian Federation to a new qualitative level and will serve the further sustainable development of PPP in Russia,” the expert stressed.

It should be noted that as a result of the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation and subsequent improvements a draft law is being crystallized, which, within the framework of infrastructure mortgage, provides for comprehensive amendments to the 115-FZ and 224-FZ, as well as introduces mechanisms aimed at eliminating ambiguity in the application of the provisions of the current legislation in the field of PPP. In particular, the amendments create additional opportunities for the parties to concession agreements and PPP and frequent flyer miles agreements:

• It is planned to directly determine the possibility of financial participation of the concessor/public partner in the form of a capital grant, concessor payment, provision of a minimum guaranteed income, provision of state or municipal guarantees in other forms, including payment of compensation upon termination of the concession agreement, etc;
• It is planned to provide for the possibility to carry out only technical maintenance of education and health care facilities within the framework of the concession agreement;
  It is planned to allow for the non-establishment of concession fees for health care and education facilities;
• Consideration is being given to the possibility of transferring the construction in progress;
• Educational facilities may be supplemented with facilities designed for students’ accommodation;
• It is planned to define by law the concept of “reconstruction”, which will include, among other things, measures to restructure the object of the PPP/MPP agreement based on the introduction of new technologies, mechanization and automation of production, modernization and replacement of obsolete and worn-out equipment with new more productive equipment, changes in the technological or functional purpose of the object of the agreement or its individual parts, other measures to improve the characteristics and operational properties of the object of the agreement on it will be possible for the grantor to establish a requirement for bidders to have work experience related to the subject of the concession agreement, including experience in implementing comparable investment projects;
• A bank guarantee will be able to act as a security for the performance of the obligation to conclude a concession agreement;
• It is envisaged that the costs of preparing a proposal may be compensated under a private concession initiative;
• Consideration is being given to the possibility of transferring the land plot under a PPP/MPP agreement not only under a lease agreement;
• It is planned to select the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation as the federal executive body authorized to develop the state policy and regulatory framework for PPP, as well as to separately determine the federal executive body for heat, water supply and water disposal facilities.