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Federal Law No. 95-FZ on Political Parties of the Russian Federation (2001, as amended 2005) (English)

FEDERAL LAW

NO. 95-FZ OF JULY 11, 2001

ON POLITICAL PARTIES

(with the Amendments and Additions of March 21, July 25, 2002,

December 8, 2003, December 20, 28, 2004, July 21, 2005)

Adopted by the State Duma on on June 21, 2001

Approved by the Federation Council on on June 29, 2001

Proceeding from the constitutional principle of political diversity and a multi-party system recognized by the Russian Federation, the equality of political parties before the law shall be guaranteed by the state, regardless of the ideology, aims and goals proclaimed by the parties in their foundation documents and policy statements.

The state shall provide for the observance of the rights and legitimate interests of political parties.

Chapter I. General Provisions

Article 1. The Subject Of This Federal Law

The subject regulated by this Federal Law includes public relations arising in connection with the realization by citizens of the Russian Federation of the right to unite into political parties and with the peculiarities of the creation, activities, reorganization and liquidation of political parties in the Russian Federation.

Article 2. The Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation To Unite Into Political Parties

The right of citizens of the Russian Federation to unite into political parties includes the right to create, on a voluntary basis, political parties in conformity with their convictions, the right to join political parties or to refrain from joining political parties, the right to participate in the activity of political parties in accordance with their respective charter and also the right to freely withdraw from political parties.

Article 3. The Concept of a Political Party and Its Structure

1. A political party is a public association created for the purpose of the participation of citizens of the Russian Federation in the political life of society by way of the formation and expression of their political will, the participation in public and political actions, in elections and referenda and also for purposes of representing the interests of citizens within the state authorities and local self administration bodies.

Federal Law No. 168-FZ of December 20, 2004 amended Item 2 of Article 3 of this Federal Law

2. A political party shall meet the following requirements:

- a political party shall have regional branches in more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation, understanding that only one regional branch of the given political party may be opened within a subject of the Russian Federation;

- a political party shall comprise not less than fifty thousand members of political party, understanding that in more than half of the subjects of the Russian Federation a political party shall have its regional branches comprising not less than five hundred members of political party as is envisaged under Item 6 of Article 23 of this federal law. In the remaining regional branches, the membership of each such branch shall be not less than two hundred and fifty members of political party as is provided under Item 6 of Article 23 of this Federal Law;

- the governing and other bodies of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions shall be located on the territory of the Russian Federation.

3. A regional branch of a political party in this federal law shall imply a structural subdivision of a political party which is created by decision of its duly authorized governing body and conducts its activity on the territory of a subject of the Russian Federation. Within a subject of the Russian Federation, comprising an autonomous district (autonomous districts) the creation of a combined regional branch of a political party is allowed. Other structural subdivisions of a political party (local and grass-roots branches) shall be created in the instances and according to the procedure envisaged under its charter.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 4 of Article 3 of this Federal Law

4. The objectives and goals of a political party shall be set forth in its charter and program.

The basic objectives of a political party shall be as follows:

- shaping of public opinion;

- political education and development of citizens;

- expression of opinions of citizens on any issues of public life, raising the awareness of the general public and state authorities of those opinions;

- the nomination of candidates (lists of candidates) in an election of President of the Russian Federation, deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, an election to the legislative (representative) governmental bodies of subjects of the Russian Federation, election of elected local self-government officials and election to the representative bodies of municipal formations, participation in such elections and also in the operation of elected bodies.

Article 4. The Legislation of the Russian Federation on Political Parties

The activity of political parties is based on the Constitution of the Russian Federation and shall be regulated by federal constitutional laws, this federal law and other federal statutes.

Article 5. The Territorial Scope of Political Parties

A political party shall have the right to conduct its activity across the entire territory of the Russian Federation.

Article 6. The Name of a Political Party

1. The name of a political party, both full an abbreviated forms, shall not use names of other political parties existing in the Russian Federation, other All-Russian public associations and of political parties which have ceased their activity through liquidation due to violation of Item 1 of Article 9 of this federal law.

2. The name of a political party shall not use the names of state authority and local self-administration bodies, names and/or family names of citizens.

3. Regional branches and other structural subdivisions of a political party shall use the name of the given political party indicating its territorial designation.

4. A political party shall have the right to use in its name such words, as: "Russia". "the Russian Federation" and also words and word combinations formed on their basis.

5. The name of a political party shall comply with the requirements of the laws of the Russian Federation on the protection of intellectual property and/or copyrights. It is forbidden to use a name of a political party which may hurt racial, national or religious feelings.

6. Public associations which are not political parties, shall not use in their name the word "party".

Article 7. The Symbols of a Political Party

1. A political party shall have the right to have its own emblem and other symbols, the exact description of which is given in the charter of the political party. The symbols of a political party shall not coincide with the state symbols of the Russian Federation, the state symbols of the subjects of the Russian Federation, the symbols of municipal formations or the state symbols of a foreign state.

2. A political party shall not use as its emblem or symbols, emblems and symbols of other political parties and other All-Russian public associations existing in the Russian Federation, nor emblems and other symbols of organizations, whose activity on the territory of the Russian Federation is prohibited.

3. The symbols of a political party shall comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of intellectual property and/or copyrights. It is forbidden to use symbols which are insulting or derogatory to the state flag of the Russian Federation, the state emblem of the Russian Federation, the state anthem of the Russian Federation, flags, emblems, anthems of the subjects of the Russian Federation, of municipal formations, foreign states, religious symbols and also symbols which may hurt racial, national or religious feelings.

Article 8. The Basic Principles of Activity of Political Parties

1. The activity of political parties is based on the principles of voluntariness, equality, self-governance, legality and openness. Political parties shall be free to determine their internal structure, objectives, forms and methods of activity, except for the restrictions imposed under this Federal Law.

2. The activity of political parties shall not infringe upon the rights and freedoms of man and citizen guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

3. Political parties shall operate openly, information on their foundation documents and policy statements shall be generally available.

4. Political parties shall offer to men and women, citizens of the Russian Federation of various nationalities who are members of a political party, equal opportunities of being represented in the governing bodies of the political party, on lists of candidates for deputies and to other elective offices within the state authority and local self administration bodies.

Article 9. Restrictions On Creation and Activity of Political parties

Federal Law No. 112-FZ of July 25, 2002 amended Item 1 of Article 9 of this Federal Law

1. It is prohibited to create political parties whose objectives or actions are aimed at the performance of an extremist activity;

2. The inclusion in the charters and policy statements of political parties of provisions on defence of ideas of social justice and the activity of political parties aimed at the protection of social justice may not be regarded as incitement of social strife.

3. The creation of political parties on the basis of professional, racial, national or religious affiliation shall not be allowed.

The features of professional, racial, national or religious affiliation in this federal law shall imply the proclamation in the charter and policy statement of a political party of such objectives as the protection of professional, racial, national or religious interests and also the reflection of those objectives in the name of a political party.

A political party shall not comprise as its members persons of the same profession.

4. The structural subdivisions of political parties shall be set up and operate only on a territorial basis. It is not allowed to set up structural subdivisions of political parties within state authorities and local self-administration bodies, within the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, law enforcement bodies and other state bodies, within governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 5 of Article 9 of this Federal Law

5. The activity of political parties and their structural subdivisions shall not be allowed within bodies of state authority and bodies of local self-administration (except for legislative (representative) bodies of state authority and representative bodies of municipal formations), within the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, law enforcement bodies and other state bodies, within offices of legislative (representative) state authorities, within state run organizations. Political parties shall be forbidden to interfere with the educational process of educational institutions.

6. The creation and activity on the territory of the Russian Federation of political parties of foreign states and structural subdivisions of the said parties shall not be allowed.

7. In the event of imposition on the territory of the Russian Federation or within its individual localities of a situation of emergency or of marshal law, the activity of political parties shall be subject to the federal constitutional law on the state of emergency or on marshal law.

Article 10. The State and Political parties

1. The interference of state authorities and their officials with the activity of political parties, like the interference of political parties with the activity of state authorities and their officials shall not be allowed.

2. Issues affecting the interests of political parties shall be resolved by state authorities and local self-administration bodies with the participation of respective political parties or by agreement with them.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 3 of Article 10 of this Federal Law

3. Persons, holding governmental or municipal posts and persons who are in the governmental or municipal employment, shall have no right to take advantage of the privileges of their official position for promoting the interests of a political party members of they are or promoting the interests of any other political party. Said persons, except for deputies of the State Duma, the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, deputies of other legislative (representative) state authorities and deputies of representative bodies of municipal formations, may not be bound by decisions of a political party in the performance of their official duties.

4. The President of Russia of the Russian Federation shall have the right to suspend his membership in a political party for a term of performance of his respective powers.

Chapter II. The Creation of a Political Party

Article 11. Creation of a Political party

1. A political party shall be created freely, without permission of state authorities and of officials. A political party may be created at a constituent congress of a political party or by way of transformation into a political party of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement at a congress of the All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement.

2. A political party shall be considered as created as of the day of adoption by the constituent congress of decisions to create a political party, to open regional branches in more than half of the subjects of the Russian Federation, to adopt the charter of a political party, to approve its program, to form the governing, control and auditing bodies of a political party. The delegates to a constituent congress of a political party shall be the founders of the political party.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Item 3 of Article 11 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

3. As of its foundation day, a political party shall conduct organizational, information and propaganda activities associated with the formation of regional branches of a political party and receipt by a political party of a document confirming the fact of making an entry about it to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities;

4. If an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement is transformed into a political party, a congress of an All-Russian public organization or of an All-Russian movement shall take a decision to transform the All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement into a political party, to transform their regional branches within the subjects of the Russian Federation into regional branches of a political party, to adopt the charter of a political party and to approve its program and also to form the governing, control and auditing bodies of a political party.

5. If a political party is created by way of transformation into a political party of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement, the political party shall be regarded as created as of the entry of a corresponding note to that effect into the combined state register of legal entities.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Article 12 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

Article 12. The Organizational Committee

1. For the purpose of preparation, convocation and holding of a constituent congress of a political party, citizens of the Russian Federation, entitled to be members of a political party, shall set up an organizational committee comprising not less than ten persons.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 2 of Article 12 of this Federal Law

2. The organizational committee shall send a notification in writing to a federal executive power body authorized for the performance of functions relating to the registration of political parties (hereinafter referred to as the authorized federal body) of their intention to create a political party indicating its proposed name. Along with the notification the said body shall also receive:

a) information about not less than ten persons of the organizational committee (full names, dates of birth, citizenship, contact telephone numbers);

b) protocol of the organizational committee meeting which indicates the objective of its formation, term of commission (not to exceed one year), location, the procedure for disposition of monetary funds and of other property of the organizational committee and also information about the member of the organizational committee who is authorized to open a settlement account to deposit funds of the organizational committee and to make civil contracts in order to provide for its activity (hereinafter referred to as the authorized person of the organizational committee) (full name, date of birth, address of residence, citizenship, series and number of passport or of a substitute document, contact telephone number).

3. The authorized federal body or the territorial body of the federal registration body (hereinafter referred to as the territorial body) shall as soon as it receives a notification and other documents specified under Item 2 of this Article, issue to the authorized person of the organizational committee a document confirming that the documents have been presented.

4. The organizational committee shall, within a month as of the issuance to it of document, specified in Item 3 hereof above, publish in one or several All-Russian printed periodicals data regarding the intention to create a political party and the presentation of corresponding documents to the federal authorized body.

Article 13. The Activity of the Organizational Committee

1. The organizational committee shall, on its own, determine the procedure for its activity. The organizational committee shall, in the course of duration of its powers, conduct a constituent congress of the political party. For those purposes, the organizational committee shall:

- conduct organizational, information and propaganda activities aimed at the formation within the subjects of the Russian Federation of regional branches of the newly-formed political party, including hold meetings of supporters of the newly-formed political party to elect delegates to a constituent congress of the political party;

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended paragraph 3 of Item 1 of Article 13 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

- open through the authorized person of the organizational committee a settlement account with one of the credit institutions of the Russian Federation and send information to that effect to the federal authorized body.

2. The funds of the organizational committee shall be made up of donations made to political parties, the collection of which shall be effected in accordance with the requirements of Article 30 of this Federal law.

3. Following the holding of a constituent congress of a political party, the organizational committee shall cease its activity, in which case, the monetary funds and other property of the organizational committee and also a financial statement on the use of same, indicating the sources of monetary funds and other property, shall be passed over to the newly-established political party.

4. In the event that the organizational committee fails, in the course of duration of its powers, to hold a constituent congress of the political party, then, upon the expiration of those powers, the organizational committee shall cease its activity. In that case, the remaining monetary funds of the organizational committee shall be transferred to the donors pro rata to the donations made by them, while the other property shall be returned to the donors. In the event the return is not possible, the remaining monetary funds and other property of the organizational committee shall be transferred towards the income of the Russian Federation.

Article 14. The Constituent Congress of Political Party or Congress of All-Russian Public Organization or All-Russian Public Movement Convened to Transform Them Into a Political Party

1. The organizational committee of an All-Russian public organization or All-Russian public movement shall publish in the Rossiyskaya Gazetta newspaper or in other All-Russian printed periodicals information of the place and date of holding a constituent congress of a political party or a congress of an All-Russian public organization or of All-Russian public movement convened to transform them into a political party. The said information shall be published not later than one month prior to the date of convocation of a constituent congress of a political party or a congress of an All-Russian public organization or All-Russian public movement convened to transform them into a political party.

The Rossiyskaya Gazetta newspaper is obligated free of charge to publish the information on the place and date of holding a constituent congress of a political party or a congress of an All-Russian public organization or of All-Russian public movement convened to transform them into a political party, within two weeks as of submission of that information to the newspaper.

2. The constituent congress of a political party shall be deemed to be legally competent, provided it was attended by delegates representing more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation and, for the most part, residing within those subjects of the Russian Federation. The representation norm of delegates to a constituent congress shall be fixed by the organizational committee, understanding that each one of the said subjects of the Russian Federation shall be represented by not less than three delegates. Decisions of the constituent congress of a political party, stipulated in Item 2 of Article 11 hereof, shall be taken by a majority vote of delegates to a constituent congress of a political party.

3. The decision to transform an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement into a political party and other decisions shall be taken by a congress of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement in compliance with their respective charters. The congress of an All-Russian public organization or of an All-Russian public movement shall be considered to be legally competent, provided it was attended by delegates representing regional branches of an All-Russian public organization or of an All-Russian public movement situated on territories of more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation and, residing, for the most part, within those subjects of the Russian Federation. The representation norm of delegates to a congress shall be fixed on the basis of not less than three delegates from each of the said regional branches. It is not required to set up an organizational committee in the event of transformation of an All-Russian public organization or of an All-Russian public movement into a political party.

4. Following the convocation of the constituent congress of a political party or a congress of an All-Russian public organization or of an All-Russian public movement which took a decision to transform the All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement into a political party, a political party shall within a month, submit basic provisions of its program to the Rossiyskaya Gazetta newspaper for publication. The Rossiyskaya Gazetta newspaper is obligated, within a month after the submission of the said provisions, free of charge, to publish the basic provisions of the program of a political party allocating it no less than two hundred newspaper lines.

Chapter III. State Registration of Political Party

Federal Law No. 169-FZ of December 8, 2003 amended Article 15 of this Federal Law

Article 15. The State Registration of Political party and Its Regional Branches

1. A political party and its regional branches shall be subject to state registration in the compliance with the Federal Law on State Registration of Legal Persons and Individual Businessmen subject to the special procedure for state registration of a political party and regional divisions thereof established by this Federal Law. A political party and its regional branches shall conduct their activities in their entirety, including as legal entities, as of the time of their state registration. The confirmation of state registration of a political party or a regional division thereof shall be the document confirming the fact of making an entry on the political party or the regional division thereof to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

2. A decision on state registration of a political party and regional divisions thereof shall be rendered accordingly by the federal authorized body and territorial agencies thereof (hereinafter referred to as authorized bodies). Entry to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities of data on the establishment, reorganization and liquidation of a political party and regional divisions thereof, as well as of other data provided for by federal laws, shall be carried out by the federal executive body authorized under Article 2 of the Federal Law on State Registration of Legal Persons and Individual Businessmen (hereinafter referred to as the registering body) on the basis of a decision on an appropriate state registration, rendered by the federal authorized body or a territorial agency thereof. With this, a procedure for interaction of authorized bodies with the registering body with regard to state registration of a political party or regional divisions thereof shall be determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.

3. The documents essential for state registration of a political party shall be presented to the federal registration body not later than in six months as of the day of holding a constituent congress of a political party or a congress of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement which made a decision to transform the said All-Russian public organization or All-Russian public movement into a political party.

4. The state registration of regional branches of a political party shall be carried out after the state registration of a political party, understanding that in more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation the state registration of regional branches of a political party shall be effected not later than in six months as of the day of state registration of a political party.

5. Having established the compliance of documents essential for state registration of a political party or its regional branches with the requirements of this Federal law , the registration bodies shall, not later than in a month's time as of the day of receipt of the documents, issue to the authorized person of a political party or of its regional branch a certificate of state registration of a political party or its regional branch.

6. In the event that a political party fails, within a month as of the expiration of the term specified in Item 4 of this Article, to present to a federal authorized body copies of documents of state registration of its regional branches in more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation, the document of state registration of a political party shall be considered to become invalid, whereas the note on the creation of the given political party shall be struck off the combined state register of legal entities.

7. The time-limits specified in Items 4 and 6 hereof, shall be extended in the event the decision to deny state registration of regional branches of a political party has been protested against in court of law and on the day of expiration of the said time-limits the court decision has not become legally valid.

8. In the event that the charter of a political party provides that another structural subdivision of a political party be recognized as a legal entity, then the state registration of said structural subdivision shall be carried out in the manner envisaged for state registration of regional branches of a political party. In this case, the structural subdivision of a political party shall be subject to the requirements laid down by this Federal law with respect to state registration of regional branches of a political party, except for Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Item 2 of Article 3 of this Federal law .

9. The state registration of a political party and its regional branches shall be subject to a state duty in the manner prescribed under the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 16 of this Federal Law

Article 16. Documents to Be Presented for State Registration of a Political Party Created at the Constituent Congress of a Political Party

1. For the purpose of state registration of a political party created at the constituent congress of a political party, it is required to present the following documents to the federal authorized body:

a) an application signed by authorized persons of a political party, indicating their full names, address of residence and contact telephone numbers;

b) a charter of a political party in duplicate, duly bound, numbered and certified by authorized persons of a political party and also the text of the charter in a machine-readable form;

c) the program of the political party certified by authorized persons of a political party and also the text of the programme in a machine-readable form;

d) duly certified copies of decisions of the constituent congress of a political party on the creation of a political party, on the adoption of the charter of a political party, on the approval of its program, on the opening of regional branches of the political party, on the formation of its governing, control and auditing bodies, indicating data on the representation of delegates at that congress and the results of voting;

e) a document on the payment of a state duty;

f) data about the address (location) of a permanently functioning governing body of the political party used for contacting the political party;

g) a copy of an All-Russian printed periodical which published data on the place and date of the holding a constituent congress of a political party;

h) copies duly certified by authorized persons of regional branches of the political party of protocols on holding in more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation of conferences or general meetings of regional branches of the political party, stating the membership of a political party of its regional branches in conformity with the requirements of Item 2 of Article 3 of this Federal law and also the location of the governing bodies of regional branches of a political party.

2. The federal authorized body shall, on the day of receipt of the documents and materials specified in Item 1 of this Article, issue to the authorized persons of the political party a document confirming their receipt. The Federal registration body shall have no right to demand that a political party present documents, other than those envisaged in Item 1 of this Article for the purpose of state registration of a political party.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 17 of this Federal Law

Article 17. Documents To Be Presented For State Registration of a Political Party Created By Way of Transformation Into a Political party of an All-Russian Public Organization or All-Russian Public Movement

1. For the purpose of state registration of a political party created by way of transformation into a political party of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement, it is necessary to present to the federal authorized body the following documents:

a) an application signed by authorized persons of the All-Russian public organization or All-Russian public movement or any other body responsible for their transformation into a political party, indicating full names, address of residence and contact telephone numbers of those persons;

b) the charter of the political party in duplicate, duly bound, numbered and certified by authorized persons of an All-Russian public organization or the All-Russian public movement or any other party and also the text of the charter in a machine-readable form;

c) the program of the political party certified by authorized persons of the All-Russian public organization or All-Russian public movement or any other body responsible for their transformation into a political party and also the text of the programme in a machine-readable form;

d) copies, duly certified by authorized persons of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement or any other body responsible for their transformation into a political party, of decisions of the congress of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement on their transformation into a political party, on the adoption of the charter of a political party, on the approval of its program, on the transformation of regional branches of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement into regional branches of a political party, on the formation of its governing, control and auditing bodies, indicating data on the representation of delegates at that congress and the results of voting;

e) a document on the payment of a state duty;

f) data about the address (location) of a standing governing body of the political party used for contacting the political party;

g) a copy of an All-Russian printed periodical which published data on the place and date of holding a congress of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement convened to transform them into a political party;

h) copies duly certified by authorized persons of regional branches of the All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement of protocols on holding in more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation of conferences or general meetings of regional branches of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement together with the decisions on the transformation of regional branches of an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement into regional branches the political party, stating the membership of regional branches of political party of in conformity with the requirements of Item 2 of Article 3 of this Federal law and also the place of location of the governing bodies of regional branches of a political party;

i) a holding-over statement of the All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement made in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

2. The federal authorized body shall, on the day of receipt of documents and materials specified in Item 1 hereof, issue to authorized persons of the political party a document confirming their receipt. The federal registration body shall have no right to demand that the political party present documents, other than those envisaged in Item 1 of this Article for the purpose of state registration of a political party.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Article 18 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

Article 18. Documents To Be Presented For State Registration of a Regional Branch of a Political Party

Federal Law No. 168-FZ of December 20, 2004 amended Item 1 of Article 18 of this Federal Law

1. For the purpose of state registration of a regional branch of a political party, the following documents shall be presented to a territorial body:

a) a copy of the decision of a constituent congress of a political party or a congress of the All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement to create (to transform) regional (territorial) branches of a political party or a copy of a decision of the authorized body of a political party to create (to transform( regional (territorial) branches of a political party;

b) a copy, duly certified by authorized persons of a political party, of a document of state registration of a political party;

c) a copy, duly certified by authorized persons of a political party, of the charter and program of the political party;

d) a copy duly certified by authorized persons of a regional branch of a political party of a protocol of a conference or a general meeting of a regional branch of a political party, stating the membership of regional branch of a political party and also the place of location of the governing bodies of regional branch of a political party;

e) a document on the payment of a state duty;

f) data about the address (location) of a standing governing body of a regional division of the political party used for contacting the regional division of the political party.

g) a list of members of regional branch of political party;

2. The territorial body shall, on the day of receipt of a document specified in Item 1 of this Article, issue to the authorized persons of a political party, a document in confirmation of their receipt. The territorial registration body shall have no right to demand that a political party present documents, other than those specified in Item 1 of this Article for the purpose of state registration of a regional branch of a political party.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Article 19 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

Article 19. The Data on Registered Political Parties

1. Data on the creation and liquidation of political parties shall be published in All-Russian printed periodicals.

2. The registration body shall make a relevant note on state registration of political parties and their regional branches in the combined state register of legal entities, open for general familiarization.

3. The federal authorized body shall, within two months as of the effective date of this Federal law, open a special site in the public information communication network and shall publish the address of that site in the Rossiyskaya Gazetta newspaper.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 4 of Article 19 of this Federal Law

4. Every year the federal empowered body shall publish a list of political parties and the regional branches thereof as of January 1 in all-Russia periodical press and place this list together with the date of registration of each political party and each regional branch thereof as well as the texts of the charters and programmes of political parties in a special website in a public information-telecommunication network. The said site shall also hold yearly consolidated financial statements of political parties. contact telephone numbers of serving governing bodies of political parties and their regional branches and other open information on political parties.

5. The authorized bodies shall, at the request of corresponding election commissions submit to them within a 10 day period as of receipt of the request, lists of political parties and their regional branches in conformity with the requirements of Item 2 of Article 36 of this Federal law, as on the day of receipt of the request.

6. The information on the members of a political party to be furnished for information purposes to authorized bodies, falls into a category of classified information. The disclosure of the information specified in this item, without the consent thereto of corresponding members of a political party, shall entail the responsibility established under the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Article 20 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

Article 20. The Grounds To Deny State Registration of a Political Party Or Its Regional Branch

1. A political party may be denied state registration if:

a) the provisions of the charter of the political party are contradictory to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws, this Federal law and other federal statutes;

b) the name and/or the symbols of a political party do not meet the requirements of Article 6 and 7 of this Federal law;

c) documents which are required under this Federal law for the purpose of state registration of the political party are not presented;

d) the federal authorized body established that the information contained in the documents presented for state registration of a political party fails to comply with the requirements of this Federal law;

e) the time-limits set by this Federal law of presentation of documents necessary for state registration of a political party have been exceeded;

2. A regional branch of a political party may be denied state registration in the event:

a) documents which are required under this Federal law for the purpose of state registration of a regional branch of a political party are not presented;

b) the territorial authorized body established that the information contained in the documents presented for state registration of a regional branch of a political party fails to comply with the requirements of this Federal law.

3. The program of a political party shall be presented exclusively for the information of the federal authorized body. Any errors, inaccuracies in the program of a political party may not serve as the grounds to deny state registration of a political party, except for the violation of the requirements of Item 1 of Article 9 of this Federal law. The federal registration body shall be forbidden to demand that a political party make any amendments in its program.

4. In the event the authorized bodies take a decision to deny state registration to a political party or its regional branch, the applicant shall be informed to that effect in writing, not later than month after time as of receipt of the submitted documents, stating specific provisions of the legislation of the Russian Federation, the violation of which entailed the denial of state registration of the given political party or its regional branch.

5. The denial of state registration or evasion of state registration of a political party or its regional branch may be appealed against in court of law. The statement of a political party or its regional branch of appealing against denial of state registration shall be examined by court of law within a month as of the filing of application. The denial of state registration of a political party or its regional branch shall serve as no obstacle to repeated submission of documents to the registration bodies for state registration of a political party or its regional branch, provided the grounds for such denial have been eliminated. The review of repeatedly submitted documents and the adoption of decisions with respect to such documents shall be subject to the procedure provided under this Federal law for state registration of a political party or its regional branch.

6. The federal authorized body shall be obligated within a month following the entry into force of this Federal law to approve and publish in the Rossiyskaya Gazetta newspaper samples of documents necessary for state registration of a political party and its regional branch.

7. The samples of documents necessary for state registration of a political party and its regional branch shall also be placed by a federal authorized body on a special site in the public information-communication network within a month after their approval.

Chapter IV. The Internal Structure of Political Party

Article 21. The Charter of Political party

1. A political party, its regional branch and other structural subdivisions shall operate on the basis of the charter of a political party and in conformity with it.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 2 of Article 21 of this Federal Law

2. The charter of a political party shall contain the provisions to defining:

a) objectives and goals of the political party;

b) the name of the political party, including its abbreviated name, and also description of symbols (if any);

c) the conditions and procedure for acquiring and losing membership of the political party, the rights and duties of its members;

d) the procedure for registration of members of a political party;

e) the procedure for creation, reorganization and liquidation of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions;

f) the procedure for election of the governing and control-auditing bodies of a political party, of its regional branches and other structural subdivisions, the term of powers and the competence of the said bodies;

g) the procedure for making changes and amendments in the charter of a political party and its program;

h) the right of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions in the field of disposal of monetary funds and other property, the financial responsibility of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions and the procedure for accountability of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions;

i) the procedure for nomination by a political party of candidates (lists of candidates) for deputies and other elected offices in governmental bodies and local self-government bodies, in particular, in a repeat election or by-election;

j) the grounds and procedure for withdrawal of candidates nominated by a political party, its regional branch, another structural unit entitled to take part in an election, and of registered candidates to deputies and to other elective offices within the bodies of state authority and bodies of local self-administration, the procedure for deleting candidates from the lists of candidates presented by a political party, its regional branch, another structural unit entitled to take part in an election.

3. The charter of a political party may also contain other provisions pertaining to its activity which are not at variance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Item 4 of Article 20 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

4. Amendments, introduced to the charter of a political party, shall be subject to state registration in the same procedure and within the same term as state registration of the political party proper and shall be valid, as of the moment of such registration.

A state duty in the procedure and in the amount, established by the laws of the Russian Federation, shall be collected for state registration of amendments introduced to the charter of a political party.

When effecting state registration of amendments, introduced to the charter of a political party, the federal authorized body shall not be empowered to make demands which are not related to the amendments to be introduced to the charter thereof.

Article 22. The Program of a Political party

1. A political party shall have a program defining the principles of activity of a political party, its objectives and goals and also methods of realization of the objectives and solution of the goals.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Item 2 of Article 22 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

2. The changes and amendments to be introduced in the program of a political party, shall, within a month after they are made, be presented to the federal authorized body for information.

Article 23. The Membership of a Political party

1. The membership in of the political party shall be voluntary and individual.

2. The members of a political party may include citizens of the Russian Federation who have reached the age of 18. Foreign citizens, stateless persons and also citizens of the Russian Federation declared by the court to be legally incompetent shall have no right to be members of a political party.

3. Admission to a political party shall be made on the basis of personal written applications of citizens of the Russian Federation in the manner provided under the charter of a political party.

4. The members of a political party shall participate in the activity of a political party, shall have the rights and duties in accordance with its charter.

5. The members of a political party shall have the right to elect and be elected to the governing bodies of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivision, to receive information on the activity of a political party and its governing bodies and also to appeal against the decisions and actions of the said bodies in the manner provided for under the charter of a political party.

6. A citizen of the Russian Federation may be a member of only one political party. A member of a political party may be registered only with one regional branch of the given political party - at the place of his or her permanent or prefered residence.

7. It is forbidden to demand that citizens of the Russian Federation when submitting official data on themselves, also indicate their membership in a political party or the absence of same.

8. The membership of a citizen of the Russian Federation in a political party or the absence of same may not serve as the grounds for restricting his or her rights and freedoms or serve as a prerequisite for granting him or her any privileges.

9. The members of the political party shall not be bound by decisions of a political party in the performance by them of their official duties, except for the persons working at the governing and control-auditing bodies of a political party, at its regional branches or at other structural subdivisions.

10. The membership in the political party may not be restricted on the basis of professional, social, racial, national or religious affiliation and also depending on sex, origin, property status, place of residence. The restriction of the right of admission to a political party or the obligation to suspend the membership in a political party may be established with respect to certain categories of citizens of the Russian Federation by the federal constitutional laws and federal statutes.

Article 24. The Governing Bodies of a Political party and Its Regional Branches

1. The supreme governing body of the political party shall be a congress of the political party.

2. The supreme governing body of a regional branch of a political party shall be a conference or a general meeting of a regional branch of a political party.

3. The election of the governing bodies of the political party shall be conducted not rarely than once every four years.

4. The election of the governing bodies of regional branches of a political party shall be conducted not rarely than once every two years.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 reworded Article 25 of this Federal Law

Article 25. Procedure for Adopting Political Party's Charter and Programme, as Well as Other Important Decisions

1. Adopting a charter and a programme of a political party, making amendments thereto, electing the governing and audit bodies of a political party, nominating candidates (lists of candidates) of a political party for deputies and other elected offices in governmental bodies and local self-government bodies, considering the matters of reorganisation or liquidation of a political party is the prerogative of the congress of the political party attended by delegates from the party's regional branches set up in over half of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

2. Decisions on election of the governing and audit bodies of regional branches of a political party, on nomination of candidates (lists of candidates) by regional branches of a political party for deputies and other elected offices in governmental bodies of subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-government bodies shall be adopted by a conference or a general meeting of regional branches of the political party. Decisions on nomination of candidates (lists of candidates) by other structural units of a political party for deputies and other elected offices in local self-government bodies shall be adopted by a general meeting of the structural unit or by another body as required by the charter of the political party.

3. A provision may be made in the charter of a political party that a decision on nominating candidates for deputies of legislative (representative) governmental bodies and the representative bodies municipal formations in a repeat election or by-election is taken in correspondence to the level of election by the permanent collective governing body of the political party, its regional branch or another structural unit.

4. Decisions on the election of governing and audit bodies of a political party and regional branches thereof and also on nomination of candidates (lists of candidates) for deputies and for other elected offices in governmental bodies and local self-government bodies shall be adopted by secret ballot.

5. When a regional branch of a political party adopts its decisions on issues of the party's participation in elections of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, in particular as involving the formation of a federal list of candidates, the nominees - not being members of this political party - who have asked the party's regional branch for being included in the federal list of candidates and who have been supported by at least ten members of the political party deemed members of this regional branch shall be subject to a mandatory examination at a conference or general meeting of the regional branch of the political party. When a congress of a political party examines an issue of presenting a federal list of candidates a nominee supported by a conference or general meeting of a regional branch of the political party shall be subject to examination on equal basis of the other nominees presented for being included in the federal list of candidates. When the permanent collective governing body of a political party or a regional branch or another structural unit thereof examines issues relating to participation in elections of deputies of the legislative (representative) governmental body of a subject of the Russian Federation, the representative body of a municipal formation in which deputy mandates are distributed exclusively among the lists of candidates presented by electoral associations nominees who are not members of this political party and who have asked for being included in the pertinent list of candidates and have been supported by at least ten members of the political party (if there is a regional branch of the political party in the subject of the Russian Federation these ten members of the party shall be members of this regional branch) are subject to compulsory examination at a meeting of the party's permanent body, a conference or general meeting of the party's regional branch or other structural unit on equal basis with the other nominees presented for being included in the pertinent list of candidates.

6. Decisions on the matters specified in Items 1 - 3 and 5 of the present article shall be adopted in compliance with the charter of the political party but at least by the majority of votes of delegates attending the congress of the political party or the conference of its regional branch, of participants in the general meeting of the regional branch of the political party, of the members of the permanent governing body of the political party, of its regional branch or other structural unit.

7. A provision may be made in the charter of a political party for additional conditions for the adoption of the decisions mentioned in Items 1 and 2 of the present article.

8. Decisions on other issues of activities of a political party, its regional branches and other structural units shall be adopted in accordance with the charter of the political party.

Chapter V. The Rights and Obligations of Political party

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 26 of this Federal Law

Article 26. The Rights of Political party

1. A political party shall, in compliance with the procedure established under the legislation of the Russian Federation, have the right:

a) to freely disseminate information on its activity, to promote its views, aims and goals;

b) to participate in the preparation of decisions of bodies of state authority and bodies of local self-administration in the manner and in the scope established under this Federal law and other statutes;

c) to take part in the elections and referenda in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation;

d) to open regional, local and grass-root branches, including with the rights of a legal entity, to take decisions on their reorganization and liquidation;

e) to organize and hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches, picketing and other public events;

f) to set up publishing offices, information agencies, printing enterprises, mass information media and advanced educational institutions of for adults;

g) to make use, on equal terms, of state and municipal mass media;

h) to create amalgamations and unions with other political parties and other public associations without the formation of a legal person;

i) to defend its rights and to represent the legitimate interests of its members;

j) to build and maintain international links with political parties and other public associations of foreign states, to join international unions and associations;

k) to conduct entrepreneurial activity as is envisaged under the legislation of the Russian Federation and the charter of a political party.

2. A political party shall have the right to engage in any other activity established under the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 27 of this Federal Law

Article 27. The Obligations of Political party

1. A political party shall be obligated:

a) to comply in its activity with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws, federal laws and other statutory legal acts of the Russian Federation and also the charter of a political party;

b) every year to provide information to empowered body on the number of members of the political party in each regional branch, on the continuation of its activity with an indication of the location of the permanent governing body, on its structural units not having the rights of a legal entity but entitled in keeping with the political party's charter to take part in elections and/or referendums, and also a copy of the political party's consolidated financial report submitted to the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation on the revenues and expenditures in the accounting year;

c) to admit the representatives of registration bodies to public events (including to congresses, conferences or general meetings) held by the political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions;

d) to notify the electoral commission of a respective level well in advance on the holding of events connected with the nomination of its candidates (lists of candidates) for deputy and to other elective offices in the bodies of state authority and bodies of local self-administration and to admit representatives of the election commission of a respective level to the said events.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 2 of Article 27 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall enter into force from January 1, 2007

2. A political party and its regional branches shall on a yearly basis submit to authorized bodies data on the number of registered candidates nominated by a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions (including as part of an election block) to deputies and to other elective offices in the bodies of state authority and bodies of local self-administration and also the data on the lists of candidates to deputies registered by election commissions. The said data shall be submitted as copies of a protocol on election results duly certified by the election commission of a respective level.

3. A political party and regional divisions thereof shall be obliged to inform the authorized bodies about changes in the data indicated in Item 1 of Article 5 of the Federal Law on State Registration of Legal Persons and Individual Businessmen, except for the data about licenses, in three working days at latest, as of the moment of such changes. The authorized bodies at latest in one working day, as of the date of receiving from a political pary or from a regional division thereof appropriate information shall inform about it the registering body which shall make an entry on the changes of the data about the political party or a regional subdivision thereof to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

Article 28. The Property of Political party

1. A political party may hold as its ownership any property necessary to provide for its activities envisaged under this Federal law and the charter of a political party.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 2 of Article 28 of this Federal Law

2. The owner of the property of a political party, including the property of its regional branches and other structural subdivisions, shall be a political party as a whole. The members of a political party shall have no rights in respect to the property of a political party. The regional branches and other structural units having the rights of a legal entity (hereinafter referred to as "registered structural units") of a political party shall enjoy the right of operative administration over the property assigned to them by the owner, shall have their independent balance sheet or estimate.

3. The property of a political party shall be used only to realize the objectives and to attain the goals provided in the charter and program of a political party.

4. The regional branches and other registered structural subdivisions of a political party shall answer under their obligations by the property placed at their disposal. Given the insufficiency of the said property, the subsidiary responsibility under the obligations of a regional branch or other registered structural subdivisions of a political party shall be born by a political party.

5. The responsibility for the conduct of the financial activity of a political party, of its regional branches and other registered structural subdivisions shall be born by the authorized persons to be appointed in accordance with the charter of a political party.

Article 29. The Monetary Funds of a Political party

1. The monetary funds of the political party shall be formed for the expense of:

a) admission and membership fees, provided the payment thereof is envisaged by the charter of a political party;

b) federal budget funds provided in conformity with this Federal law;

c) donations;

d) receipts from the events conducted by the political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions and also the incomes from the entrepreneurial activity;

e) receipts from civil transactions;

f) other receipts not forbidden under the law.

2. The monetary funds of a political party shall be deposited into accounts opened with credit institutions registered on the territory of the Russian Federation. A political party, its regional branches and other registered structural subdivisions shall be entitled to have only one settlement account.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 30 of this Federal Law

Article 30. Donations to a Political party and Its Regional branches

1. A political party and its regional branches shall have the right to accept donations in the form of monetary means and other property from individuals and legal entities, provided those donations are acknowledged with documents and their source is identified.

2. The donations to a political party and its regional branches in the form of monetary funds shall be effected by a bank transfer. Individuals shall be allowed to make donations to a political party and its regional branches through a transfer of monetary funds in cash. The total amount of annual donations in cash from a single individual shall not exceed by more than ten-fold, the minimum wage fixed under Federal Law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year of transfer of the said funds.

3. It is forbidden to accept donations to a political party and its regional branches from:

a) foreign states and foreign legal entities;

b) foreign citizens;

c) stateless persons;

d) citizens of the Russian Federation who are under 18;

e) Russian legal entities with foreign participation, if the share (contribution) of foreign participation in their authorized (stock) capital exceeds 30 per cent on the day of payment of a donation (for public corporations - on the day of making up a list of shareholders for the previous year);

f) international organizations and international public movements;

g) governmental bodies, other state bodies, local self-government bodies;

h) state and municipal institutions, state and municipal unitary enterprises;

i) legal entities in whose charter (contributed) capital the share (contribution) of the Russian Federation, subjects of the Russian Federation and/or municipal formations exceeds 30 per cent as of the date of donation (as of the date of drawing up of the list of shareholders for the preceding year - for public joint-stock companies);

i.1) organisations founded by state bodies and/or local selfgovernment bodies (except for the joint-stock companies formed as result of privatisation), organisations founded by the legal entities mentioned in Subitems "e" and "i" of the present item and also from organisations in whose charter (contributed) capital the share (contribution) of the legal entities mentioned in Subitems "e" and "i" of the present item exceeds 30 per cent as of the date of donation (as of the date of drawing up of the list of shareholders for the preceding year for public joint-stock companies);

j) military units, military organizations, law enforcement bodies;

k) charitable institutions and religious associations and also from organizations founded by them;

l) anonymous donors. The "anonymous donor" is a citizen who did not indicate any of the following in the payment document whereby the donation is made: surname, name or patronymic, residential address, or who entered unreliable information, or a legal entity about which any of the following has not been entered in the payment document whereby the donation is made: taxpayer identification number, name, banking details, about which or unreliable information was entered;

m) legal entities registered less than one year prior to the payment of donation.

4. The donations specified in Item 3 of this Article, donations made in breach of the provisions of Items 5 and 6 of this Article and also the donations whose transfer entails the exceeding of the amount stated in Item 9 hereof, shall be returned to donors by a political party or its regional branch within a month as of receipt thereof and, should it be impossible to return them, they shall be transferred (remitted) towards the income of the Russian Federation.

5. While making a donation as an amount of money to a political party or a regional branch thereof a legal entity shall remit the amount of money to an account of the political party or its regional branch opened in a credit organisation and shall indicate the following details in payment instructions: taxpayer identification number, name, date of registration, banking details, an annotation on lack of the limitations envisaged by Item 3 of the present Article.

6. While making a donation as an amount of money to a political party or a regional branch thereof a citizen of the Russian Federation shall remit the amount of money to an account of the political party or its regional branch opened in a credit organisation in person with his own money together with the show of his passport or a document substituting a passport and with an indication in payment document or money order of the following personal details: surname, name, patronymic, date of birth, residential address, the series and number of the passport or the document substituting the citizen's passport, information on citizenship. When a Russian Federation citizen makes a donation by handing an amount of money in cash over to a political party or a regional branch thereof in accordance with Item 2 of the present Article the following shall be indicated in the cash receipt order: surname, name, patronymic, date of birth, residential address, the series and number of passport or document substituting a passport of the Russian Federation citizen, information on the donor's citizenship.

7. If the donation is made not as monetary funds, a political party or its regional branch shall evaluate it in terms of money in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and shall enter relevant data, including the data on the donor as specified in Items 5 and 6 hereof above, into the consolidated financial statement of the political party, financial (bookkeeping) statement of the political party or in the financial (bookkeeping) statement of a regional branch of the political party.

8. The amount of donations received by a political party, including by its regional branches from the same legal entity within a calendar year, shall not exceed one hundred thousand times the minimum wage fixed under Federal law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year of payment of donations. The amount of donations received by a political party, including by its regional branch, from a single individual within a calendar year, shall not exceed ten thousand times of the minimal wage fixed under the Federal law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year of payment of donation.

9. The total amount of annual donations received by a political party or its regional branch shall not exceed ten million times of the minimal wage fixed under Federal law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year under review. Moreover, the amount of annual donations received by a regional branch of a political party shall not exceed two hundred thousand times of the minimal wage fixed under the Federal law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year under review.

Article 31. The Economic Activity of a Political party

1. A political party shall be independent in handling its economic matters associated with the provision for its activity, including issues of labour remuneration, entrepreneurial activity, receipt and disposition of monetary funds and other property.

2. The employees of the head office of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions, employed under a labour contract, shall be subject to the legislation of the Russian Federation on labour and social insurance.

A political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions shall be entitled to conclude time-fixed labour contracts with the staff employees of a political party for a period not exceeding a term in office of the governing bodies of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions.

3. With the aim of creating financial and material conditions for realization of objectives and the attainment of goals envisaged in the charter and program of a political party, a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions shall have the right to conduct the following types of entrepreneurial activities:

a) information, advertising, publishing and printing activities in order to promote its views, objectives, goals and to make public results of its activities;

b) making and selling of souvenir products bearing the symbols and/or the name of a political party and also the manufacture and selling of published and printed products;

c) selling and letting out on lease of movable and immovable property held in the ownership of a political party;

4. A political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions shall have no right to conduct the types of entrepreneurial activities not specified under Item 3 hereof.

5. The incomes from the entrepreneurial activities of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions may not be distributed among the members of a political party and shall be used only for the purposes stipulated by its charter.

6. The results of the economic activity of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions shall be showed in a consolidated financial statement of a political party and financial statements of its regional branches and other registered structural subdivisions.

7. A political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions shall have the right to engage in charitable activity.

Chapter VI. The State Support of Political Parties

Article 32. Types of State Support of Political parties

1. The federal state authorities, state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-administration bodies shall render support on equal terms to political parties, their regional branches and other structural subdivisions by:

a) providing equal conditions and guarantees of access to state and municipal mass information media;

b) creating equal conditions for providing premises and means of communication held in the state and/or municipal ownership, under the conditions similar to those for providing the same to governmental and municipal agencies;

c) providing equal conditions for participation in election campaigns, referenda, public and political actions.

2. The state support of political parties shall also be extended by providing to them state financing in accordance with Article 33 of this Federal law.

3. The state financing of a political party shall be suspended in the event of suspension of its activity and also in the event of a failure of the political party to comply with the requirements of Article 34 of this Federal law.

4. In case of liquidation of a political party, ots regional branch and other structural subdivision, the state support of the given political party, its regional branch and other structural subdivision shall cease as of the effective date of a court decision on the liquidation of a political party, its regional branch and other structural subdivision or as of the day of adoption of a relevant decision by an authorized body of the political party.

In case of reorganization of a political party, its regional branch and other structural subdivision, the state support of the given political party, its regional branch and other structural subdivision shall cease as of the day of making a corresponding entry to that effect in the combined state register of legal entities.

Chapter VII State Financing of Political parties

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 33 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall enter into force from January 1 of the year following the year of holding the first election of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation after the entry into force of the present Federal Law

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 33 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall enter into force from January 1, 2006

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 33 of this Federal Law

Article 33 of this Federal law shall take effect not later than January 1 of 2004

Article 33. The Funds of the Federal Budget Allocated to Political parties

1. The state support to political parties by way of their state financing shall be carried out on the basis of results of participation of political parties in the elections with the objective of compensating for the financial expenditures of political parties by using the funds of a federal budget in the manner envisaged under this Federal law.

2. The funds of the federal budget allocated for the state financing of political parties shall be envisaged therein by a separate line in accordance with the budget classification of the Russian Federation.

3. The total amount of funds of the federal budget allocated for the state financing of political parties may not be less than 0,005 times of the minimal wage fixed under the Federal law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year of allocation of these funds to be multiplied by the number of voters put on the electoral register at the most recently held previous elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation or at the elections of the President of the Russian Federation.

4. The funds of the federal budget allocated for the state financing of political parties shall, in accordance with the federal law on the federal budget for the next year, be sent to the settlement accounts of political parties by annual and lump-sum transfers.

5. Political parties shall have the right to receive the funds from the federal budget in either of the following cases:

a) if candidates on a federal list fielded by a political party or by an election block within which a political party contending the elections for deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, gained, according to election results, not less than 3 per cent of the votes cast in the vote in a federal constituency;

b) if, according to the returns of elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in single-mandate constituencies,there were elected not less than 12(twelve) candidates nominated by a political party or by an electoral block specified in Subitem (a) hereof (provided the candidates on a federal list fielded by the said political party or by the said election block, commanded, according to election returns, not less than 3 (three) per cent of the votes cast);

c) if a registered candidate for the President of the Russian Federation nominated by a political party, got, according to election returns, not less than 3 per cent of the votes cast in the vote.

6. The state financing of political parties which took part in elections on their own and which are subject to Item 5 of this Article shall be carried out as follows:

a) according to the returns of elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation - until January 1, 2006, in the amount of 0.005 times of minimum wage fixed by Federal law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year of allocation of those funds to be multiplied by the number of votes gained by candidates on a federal list fielded by a political party or by candidates nominated by a political party and elected to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in single mandate constituencies in accordance with Subitem (b) of Item 5 of this Article. Starting from January 1, 2006 until January 1 of the year following the year in which the first election of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation after January 1, 2006 state funding shall be provided to the said political parties annually in the amount of 5,000 roubles times the number of votes received by the federal list of the candidates nominated by the political party or the candidates nominated by the political party and elected to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in single-member constituencies in accordance with Subitem "b" of Item 5 of the present Article. Starting from January 1 of the year following the year in which the first election of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation after January 1, 2006 state funding to the said political parties shall be provided annually in the amount of 5,000 roubles times the number of votes received by the federal list of the candidates nominated by the political party

b) according to the returns of elections for the President of Russia - as a lump-sum amount totalling 0.005 times of minimum wage fixed by the Federal law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year of allocation of these funds to be multiplied by the number of votes gained by a registered candidate nominated by a political party for the President of the Russian Federation.

7. The state financing of political parties which were incorporated within an election bloc and are subject to Item 5 of this Article shall be effected as follows:

a) according to the returns of elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation - on an annual basis, in the amount of 0.005 times of the minimum wage fixed by the Federal law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year of allocation of those funds to be multiplied by the number of votes received by candidates on a federal list fielded by an election bloc or by candidates nominated by an election bloc and elected to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in single-mandate constituencies in accordance with Subitem (b) of Item 5 of this Article;

b) according to the returns of elections of the President of the Russian Federation - as a lump-sum amount totalling 0.005 times of minimum wage fixed by the Federal law as on March 1 of the year preceding the year of allocation of those funds to be multiplied by the number of votes received by a registered candidate nominated by an election bloc for the President of the Russian Federation.

7.1. Starting from January 1, 2006 and until January 1 of the year following the year of the first election of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation after January 1, 2006 state funding for the political parties which have been members of an electoral bloc and which are subject to Item 5 of the present Article shall be provided every year at the rate of five roubles times the number of votes received by the federal list of the candidates nominated by the electoral bloc or the candidates nominated by the electoral bloc and elected to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in single-member constituencies in accordance with Subitem "b" of Item 5 of the present Article. The federal budget funds envisaged by the present item shall be distributed among the political parties which have been members of the electoral bloc in equal shares, except as otherwise determined by the agreement on the formation of the electoral bloc.

8. The funds of the federal budget stipulated under Item 7 of this Article shall be distributed between political parties which were incorporated within an election bloc, in equal shares, unless otherwise is provided by an election bloc at the time of its formation.

9. The funds of the federal budget envisaged by Items 6 and 7 of this Article shall be disbursed:

a) according to the results of elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation - not later than in three months as of the day of official publication of election returns and, subsequently, on a yearly basis throughout the term in office of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of a respective convocation;

b) according to the results of elections of the President of the Russian Federation as a lump-sum amount, not later than in a year as of the day of official publication of election returns.

10. Political parties shall have the right to refuse the state financing provided by Items 3, 6 and 7 of this Article. In case of refusal of a political party to receive state financing, the monetary funds allocated to a political party from the federal budget shall, according to election results, remain in the federal budget.

11. Every year, starting from January 1, 2007, the rates of state funding for political parties established by the present Article shall be subject to indexing with account taken of the inflation level forecast by a federal law on the federal budget.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 reworded Article 34 of this Federal Law

Article 34. The Financial Reports of a Political Party

1. A political party, its regional branches and other registered structural units shall keep records for taxation purposes and provide bookkeeping reports in the procedure and within the terms set by the legislation of the Russian Federation for legal entities.

2. A political party, its regional branches and other registered structural units shall keep record of the receipt and spending of the political party's funds in accordance with Items 3 - 7 of the present Article.

3. Information on the receipt and spending of the funds of a political party by the political party to the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation, and by a regional branch or another registered structural unit of the political party to the electoral commission of the subject of the Russian Federation in whose territory it has been registered. Such information shall be provided on a quarterly basis within 30 days after the end of the quarter.

4. Every year not lather than April 1 of the year following the accounting year a political party shall submit a consolidated financial report on the receipt and spending of funds in the accounting year to the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation.

5. Information on the receipt and spending of the funds of a political party mentioned in Item 3 of the present Article shall contain data on the sources and amounts of funds received into the accounts of the political party, its regional branch and another registered structural unit respectively, on the value of property received as a donation by the political party, its regional branch and another registered structural unit respectively, and on the donors which have provided the property as a donation, on the spending of the political party's funds by the political party, its regional branch and another registered structural unit respectively.

6. The consolidated financial report of a political party mentioned in Item 4 of the present Article shall contain information on the sources and amounts of funds received into the accounts of the political party, its regional branch and another registered structural unit in the accounting year, on the spending of these funds, on the property of the political party complete with an indication of the value thereof and information on the registration of the property, and also for property received as a donation on the donors whereby it was donated. In this case, the funds spent by the political party, its regional branch and another registered structural unit for preparing and carrying out an election shall be recorded separately. The list of the standards governing the consolidated financial report available in the present item is exhaustive.

7. The form of the consolidated financial report and the form of information on the receipt and spending of funds as hard-copies and machine-readable copies are established by the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation.

8. The Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation, the electoral commissions of subjects of the Russian Federation shall provide information to the empowered body and its territorial bodies respectively on the political parties, their regional branches, other registered structural units which fail to comply with the provisions of Items 2-6 of the present Article.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 reworded Article 35 of this Federal Law

Article 35. Verifying the Observance of Standards Governing the Recording and Spending of Political Parties' Funds

1. The consolidated financial report of a political party shall be verified by the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation. The financial (bookkeeping) reports of a political party, its regional branch and another registered structural unit shall be verified by the federal executive governmental body charged with control and supervision in the area of taxes and fees and by its territorial bodies

2. Information on the receipt and spending of the funds of a political party, its regional branch and another registered structural unit shall be verified by the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation, the electoral commission of the subject of the Russian Federation respectively.

3. The consolidated financial report of a political party shall be placed by the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation in its special website in the public information-telecommunication network within two months after the submittal thereof by the political party. Information on the results of verification of consolidated financial reports of political parties shall be brought to the notice of the political parties and placed by the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation in the said website and also published in all-Russia periodical press.

4. Within 30 days after the receipt of a proposal from the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation, the electoral commission of a subject of the Russian Federation the bodies responsible for registering Russian Federation citizens at the place where they stay or reside within the Russian Federation, the empowered federal body charged with state registration of legal entities shall verify free of charge the information provided by citizens and legal entities when they made (remitted) donations to an account of a political party or its regional branch and inform the electoral commission of the result of the verification. This information shall be submitted in the forms established by the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation. In this case the State Automated System of the Russian Federation "Vybory" ("Elections") may be used.

5. When an electoral commission learns that a voluntary donation has been made in breach of the provisions of Item 3 of Article 30 of the present Federal Law information about it shall be immediately brought to the political party, its regional branch respectively.

Chapter VIII. The Participation of Political Parties in Elections and Referenda

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 36 of this Federal Law

Article 36. The Participation of Political parties in Elections and Referenda

Item 1 of Article 36 of this Federal law shall take effect in two years as of the day of official publication of this Federal law

1. A political party is a sole kind of a public association which shall enjoy the right to nominate and field independently candidates (lists of candidates) for deputy and to other elective offices within bodies of state authorities.

2. A political party and, in instances provided for by the charter of a political party, its regional branches and other structural units shall have the right to take part in elections, an officially released decision on the convocation (the holding) of which took place after the presentation by a political party to authorized bodies of documents confirming the state registration of its regional branches in more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation. A political party that has submitted documents to empowered bodies to confirm the state registration of its regional branches in more than half of the subjects of the Russian Federation, and in the cases envisaged by the political party's charter also its regional branches, other structural units are entitled to take part in referendums in the procedure established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on referendums.

3. Abolished.

4. While nominating candidates (lists of candidates) for deputies and other elected offices in governmental bodies and local selfgovernment bodies a political party shall publish its electoral programme in the procedure and within the term established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on elections.

Article 37. Recognising a Political Party as Taking Part in Elections

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 1 of Article 37 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall enter into force upon the expiry of five years after the entry into force of said Federal Law

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 1 of Article 37 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall enter into force from January 8, 2008

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 1 of Article 37 of this Federal Law

1. A political party shall be regarded as taking part in elections in either of the following instances of holding the vote in elections:

a) a registered federal list of candidates to deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation which was fielded by it (or by an electoral bloc of which it is a part);

b) for candidates for deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation who were nominated by it (or by an electoral bloc of which it is a part) and registered in not less than 5 (five) per cent of single-mandate constituencies;

c) a candidate for the President of the Russian Federation who was registered and nominated by it;

d) candidates for an office of a top executive of the subject of the Russian Federation (a head of a higher executive body of state authority of the subject of the Russian Federation) who were nominated by it (including as part of an electoral bloc) and registered in not less than 10 (ten) per cent of the subjects of the Russian Federation;

e) candidates (lists of candidates) to deputies of legislative (representative) bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation who were nominated by it (including as part of an election bloc) and registered in not less than 20 (twenty) per cent of the subjects of the Russian Federation;

f) candidates (lists of candidates) who were nominated by it (including as part of an electoral bloc) and registered in the elections to the local self-administration bodies in more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

2. A political party which did not participate in elections within five consecutive years as is envisaged by Item 1 of this Article, shall be subject to liquidation in conformity with Article 41 of this Federal law.

Chapter IX. The Suspension of Activity and the Liquidation of Political parties

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 38 of this Federal Law

Article 38. The Control Over the Activity of Political parties

1. The control over the observance by political parties, their regional branches and other structural subdivisions of the legislation of the Russian Federation and also over the compliance of the activity of a political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions with the provisions, aims and goals envisaged under the charters of political parties shall be exercised by authorized bodies.

The said bodies shall have the right:

a) not more often than once a year to familiarize themselves with the documents of political parties and their regional branches which confirm the existence of regional branches, the number of members of political party and the number of members of each regional branch of political party;

b) to depute their representatives to attend public events (including congresses, conferences or general meetings) held by the political party, its regional branches and other structural subdivisions which are devoted to the adoption of the charter and program of a political party, the amendment of same, the election of governing and control-auditing bodies of the political party, the nomination of candidates for deputies and to other elective offices in the bodies of state authority and the bodies of local self-administration, the reorganization and liquidation of a political party and its regional branches;

c) to issue to a political party, its regional branch or other registered structural subdivision a warning in writing (indicating specific grounds for making such a warning) in the event they are engaged in activity running counter to the provisions, aims and goals stipulated under the charter of a political party. The said warning may be appealed against by a political party, its regional branch or other registered structural subdivision before a court of law. In the event a warning is made to a regional branch or other registered structural subdivision of a political party, the territorial body shall be obligated to immediately report the fact to the federal authorized body and to the governing body of a political party;

d) to file an application with a court of law for the suspension of activities or for the liquidation of a political party, its regional branch or other registered structural subdivision in conformity with Item 3 of Article 39, Item 3 of Article 41 and Item 3 of Article 42 of this Federal law.

1.1. The monitoring of the sources and amounts of property received by political parties, their regional branches and other registered structural units in the form of entrance and membership dues as well as donations of citizens and legal entities shall be performed by the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation or a relevant electoral commission of a subject of the Russian Federation.

2. The control over sources of other income of political parties, their regional branches and other registered structural subdivisions, the amount of monetary funds as may be received by them and over the payment of taxes shall be exercised by the federal executive governmental body charged with control and supervision in the area of taxes and fees and its territorial bodies.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Article 39 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

Article 39. The Suspension of Activities of Political Party, Its Regional Branch Other Structural Subdivision

1. In the event of violation by a political party of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the federal constitutional laws, this Federal law and other federal statutes, the federal authorized body shall issue to a political party a warning in writing, indicating the violations committed and shall fix a time limit for making good the same to be not less than two months. In the event a political party fails to rectify those violations within the pre-set time limit and to appeal against the warning of the federal registration body in a court of law, the activity of a political party may be suspended for a period of up to six months by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the basis of an application filed by the federal registration body.

2. In the event of violation by a regional branch or by other structural subdivision of a political party of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the federal constitutional laws, this Federal law and other federal statutes, a relevant territorial registration body shall issue to that regional branch or other structural subdivision of a political party a warning in writing, indicating the violations committed and shall fix a time limit for making good the same to be not less than one month. In the event that a regional branch or other structural subdivision of a political party fails within the pre-set time limit to rectify those violations and to appeal against the warning of the territorial body in a court of law, the activity of the regional branch or of other structural subdivision may be suspended for a period of up to six months by decision of the supreme court of a republic, of territorial or regional court, of the court of a city of federal significance, of the court of an autonomous region or autonomous district on the basis of an application filed by a respective territorial body.

3. The registration bodies shall be entitled to make an application with the court for suspension of activities of a political party, its regional branch or of other structural subdivision following the issuance of two warnings in writing as is provided under Subitem (c) of Item 1 of Article 38 of this Federal law, unless those warnings were appealed against before the court in the manner prescribed under the law or unless they were declared by the court to be unlawful. The application by the federal or territorial registration body to the court for suspension of activities of a political party, its regional branch or of other structural subdivision may not be made in the period as the court is considering complaints against those warnings.

4. In the event a local or a grass-root branch of a political party is not a legal entity, the responsibility established by this Federal law for violations which may be committed by the said local or grass-root branch shall be born by a respective regional branch of a political party.

5. The activity of a political party, whose federal list at the elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation was admitted for the distribution of deputies' mandates, may not be suspended for grounds specified under Subitems (d) and (e) of Item 3 of Article 41 of this Federal law, within four years as of the voting day at the said elections.

6. It is not allowed to suspend the activity of a political party as of the day of official publication of a decision to call (to conduct) elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation or the elections of the President of the Russian Federation till the day of official publication of results of corresponding elections, except for instances envisaged under Items 1, 4 and 5 of Article 9 of this Federal law.

7. It is not allowed to suspend the activity of a regional branch of a political party as of the day of official publication of a decision to declare (to hold) the elections of deputies to a legislative (representative) body of a respective subject of the Russian Federation, a top official of a respective subject of the Russian Federation ( a head of the higher executive body of state authority of a respective subject of the Russian Federation) till the date of official publication of results of the said elections, except for instances envisaged under Items 1, 4 and 5 of Article 9 of this Federal law.

Article 40. The Consequences of Suspension of Activity of Political Party, Its Regional Branch and Other Structural Subdivision

1. In the event of suspension of activity of a political party, its regional branch or of other structural subdivision for a period fixed by the decision of the court, there shall be suspended the rights of a political party, its regional branch or of other structural subdivision as a founder of media of mass information; they shall be forbidden to make use of state-run and municipal media of mass information, to organize and hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches, picketing and other public events, to take part in elections and referenda, to use bank deposits, except for the making of payments associated with the economic activity of a political party, its regional branch or of other structural subdivision, the compensation of losses (damage) caused by their actions, the payment of taxes, fines and settlements under labor contracts.

2. In the event that within the period of suspension of activity of a political party, its regional branch or of other structural subdivision fixed by court decision, the violations which served as the grounds for such suspension, are made good, then following the expiration of the said term, a political party, its regional branch and other structural subdivision shall resume their activity.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Item 3 of Article 40 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

3. In the event a political party, its regional branch or other structural subdivision fails to make good the violations which served as the grounds for suspension of their activities, then the federal authorized body or of a territorial agency thereof which made an application to the court for the suspension of activity of a political party, its regional branch or other structural subdivision shall file an application to a corresponding court for the liquidation of the said political party, its regional branch or other structural subdivision.

Federal Law No. 169-FZ of December 8, 2003 amended Article 41 of this Federal Law

Article 41. The Liquidation of a Political Party

1. A political party may be liquidated by decision of its supreme governing body - of the congress or by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

2. The decision of the congress of the political party on liquidation of a political party shall be taken according to the procedure envisaged under Item 1 of Article 25 of this Federal law and under the charter of the political party.

Federal Law No. 168-FZ of December 20, 2004 amended Item 3 of Article 41 of this Federal Law

3. A political party may be liquidated by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in the event of:

a) a failure to meet the requirements of Items 4 and 5 of Article 9 of this Federal law;

b) failure to make good within the time limit set by a court decision of violations which served as the grounds for the suspension of activities of a political party;

c) non-participation of a political party in the elections as is envisaged under Article 37 of this Federal law;

d) the non-existence of regional branches of a political party numbering not less than five hundred members in more than a half of the subjects of the Russian Federation;

e) the lacking of the necessary number of members provided by Item 2 of Article 3 of this Federal law;

4. An application for the liquidation of a political party shall be made to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation by a federal registration body.

5. A political party whose federal lists at the elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation was admitted for the distribution of deputies' mandates may not be liquidated for the grounds provided under Subitems (d) and (e) of Item 3 of this Article within four years as of the day of voting at the said elections.

6. It is not permitted to liquidate a political party by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation as of the day of official publication of a decision to call (to conduct) elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the elections of the President of the Russian Federation till the day of official publication of results of the said elections, except for instances envisaged by Item 1 of Article 9 of this Federal law.

7. State registration of a political party in connection with liquidation thereof shall be effected in the procedure, provided for by the Federal Law on State Registration of Legal Persons and Individual Businessmen, subject to the peculiarities of such registration established by this Federal Law.

The data and information required for effecting state registration of a political party in connection with liquidation thereof shall be submitted to the federal authorized body.

The federal authorized body upon rendering a decision on state registration of a political party in connection with liquidation thereof shall direct to the registering body the data and information required for exercising by this body the functions related to keeping the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

On the basis of said decision, rendered by the federal authorized body, and the required data and documents, submitted by them, the registering body in five working days at latest, as of the date of receiving the required data and information, shall make an appropriate entry to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and shall inform about it the federal authorized body at latest in one working day, next following the date of making an appropriate entry.

A procedure for interaction of the federal authorized body with the registering body with regard to state registration of a political party in connection with liquidation thereof shall be determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.

State registration of a political party in connection with liquidation thereof shall be effected in ten working days at latest, as of the date of submitting all the documents drawn up in the established procedure.

8. A political party may also be liquidated in the order and on the grounds, envisaged in the Federal Law on the Counteraction to an Extremist Activity.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Article 42 of this Federal Law

Article 42. The Liquidation of Regional Branch and Other Structural Subdivision of a Political party

1. A regional branch or other structural subdivision of a political party may be liquidated by a decision of the political party's congress, and in the cases envisaged by its charter also by a decision of the permanent collective governing body of the political party, by court decision and also in case of liquidation of a political party.

2. The liquidation of a regional branch or other structural subdivision of a political party by decision of the permanent collective governing body of the political party shall be carried out on the grounds and in the manner provided by the charter of a political party.

3. The liquidation of a regional branch or other structural subdivision of a political party by court decision shall be effected in the event of:

a) a failure to meet the requirements of Items 1, 4 and 5 of Article 9 of this Federal law;

b) a failure to make good within the time limit set by court decisions of the violation which serves as the grounds for suspension of activities of a regional branch and other structural subdivision of a political party;

c) the non-existence within a regional branch of a political party of the required number of members of a political party envisaged under Item 2 of Article 3 of this feed.

d) repeated nun-submission by a regional division of a political party to the appropriate territorial body within the established term of the updated information required for introducing amendments to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, safe for the data on obtained licenses.

4. An application for the liquidation of a regional branch or other structural subdivision of a political party shall be made to the supreme court of a republic, the territorial or regional court, the court of a city of federal significance, the court of an autonomous region or district by the federal authorized body or by a relevant territorial body.

5. It is not allowed to liquidate a regional branch of a political party by court decision as of the day of official publication of a decision to call (to conduct) elections of deputies to a legislative (representative) body of the respective the subject of the Russian Federation and till the day of official publication of results of the said elections, except for instances provided under Item 1 of Article 9 of this Federal law.

6. State registration of a regional division or other structural unit of a political party in connection with liquidation thereof shall be effected in the procedure provided for by the Federal Law on State Registration of Legal Persons and Individual Businessmen, subject to the peculiarities of such registration established by this Federal Law.

The data and documents required for state registration of a regional division or other structural unit of apolitical party in connection with liquidation thereof shall be submitted to the federal authorized body.

The federal authorized body upon rendering a decision on state registration of a regional division or of other structural unit of a political party in connection with liquidation thereof shall direct to the registering body the data and documents required for exercising by this body the functions related to keeping the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

On the basis of said decision, rendered by the federal authorized body, and the required data and documents, submitted by them, the registering body in five days at latest, as of the date of receiving the required data and documents, shall make an appropriate entry to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and shall inform about it the federal authorized body at latest in one working day, next following the date of making the appropriate entry.

A procedure for interaction of the federal authorized body with the registering body with regard to state registration of a regional division or other structural unit of a political party in connection with liquidation thereof shall be determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.

State registration of a regional division or of other structural unit of a political party in connection with liquidation thereof shall be carried out in tem working days at latest, as of the date of submitting all the documents drawn up in the established procedure.

Article 43. Appealing Against a Court Decision to Suspend the Activity or to Liquidate a Political party, Its Regional Branch or Other Structural Subdivision

1. A court decision to suspend the activities of, or to liquidate, a political party, its regional branch or other structural subdivision may be appealed against in instances and in the manner established under the Federal Law.

2. The overruling of the court decision to suspend the activity or to liquidate a political party, its regional branch and other structural subdivision shall entail the compensation by the state of all the losses sustained by the political party in view of the illegal suspension of its activity, the activity of a regional branch and of other structural subdivision of the political party or the illegal liquidation of a political party, its regional branch and other structural subdivision.

Federal Law No. 169-FZ of December 8, 2003 amended Article 44 of this Federal Law

Article 44. The Reorganization of a political party, its regional branch or other structural subdivision

1. The reorganization of a political party shall be carried out by decision of the congress of a political party to be taken according to the procedure envisaged by Item 1 of Article 25 of this Federal law and the charter of the political party.

Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 amended Item 2 of Article 44 of this Federal Law

2. The reorganization of a regional branch or other structural subdivision of a political party shall be effected by decision of the congress of a political party or in the cases envisaged by the political party's charter, the permanent collective governing body of the political party. A regional branch of a political party shall have no right to take its own decision on its reorganization.

3. State registration of a political party or a regional division thereof, of other structural unit, established by way of reorganization, shall be carried out in the procedure provided for by the Federal Law on State Registration of Legal Persons and Individual Businessmen, subject to the peculiarities of such registration established by this Federal Law.

The documents required for carrying out state registration of a political party or a regional division thereof, of other structural unit, established by way reorganization, shall be submitted to the federal authorized body or territorial agencies thereof in appropriate subjects of the Russian Federation. With this, a list of said documents and a procedure for submitting them shall be determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.

The federal authorized body or a territorial agency thereof upon rendering a decision on state registration of a political party or of a regional division thereof, of other structural unit, established by way of reorganization, shall direct to the registering body the data and documents required for exercising by this body functions related to keeping the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

On the basis of said decision rendered by the federal authorized body or by a territorial agency thereof and the required data and documents, submitted by them, the registering body in five working days at latest, as of the date of receiving the required data and documents, shall make an appropriate entry to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and shall inform about it the body, that has rendered said decision, at latest in one working day, next following the date of making an appropriate entry.

A procedure for interaction of the authorized bodies with the registering body with regard to state registration of a political party or a regional division thereof, of other structural unit, established by way of reorganization, shall be determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.

State registration of a political party or of a regional division thereof, of other structural unit established by way of reorganization, if a decision to refuse said state registration under Article 20 of this Federal Law has not been rendered, shall be carried out in thirty working days at latest, as of the date of submitting all the documents drawn up in the established procedure.

Article 45. The Consequences of Liquidation and Reorganization of Political party

1. In the event of liquidation of a political party, its property shall, following the completion of settlements under its respective obligations, be transferred:

a) towards the aims envisaged by the charter and program of the political party, if the liquidation of a political party was effected by decision of the congress of a political party;

b) towards the income of the Russian Federation, if the liquidation of the political party was effected by court decision.

2. In the event of reorganization of a political party, the transfer of its property shall be carried out according to the procedure established by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation with respect to reorganization of legal entities.

Federal Law No. 31-FZ of March 21, 2002 amended Item 3 of Article 45 of this Federal Law. The amendments shall come into force as of July 1, 2002

3. The termination of activity of a political party in case of its liquidation or reorganization shall entail the cancellation of a respective entry from the combined state register of legal entities.

Chapter X. Final and Transitory Provisions

Article 46. The Entry Into Effect of This Federal Law

1. This Federal law shall take effect as of the day of its official publication, except for Article 33 and Item 1 of Article 36. Article 33 of this Federal law shall come into force not later than January 1, 2004. Item 1 of Article 36 of this Federal law shall come into force in two years as of the official publication of this Federal law.

2. Article 6 and 9 which remained in force (as concerns the provisions regarding political parties) of the USSR Law On Public Associations (Vedomosti Syezda Narodnikh Deputatov USSR i Verkhovnogo Soveta USSR, No. 42, 1990, Item 839) shall be declared as invalid on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Article 47. The Transformation of All-Russian Political Public Associations and the Status of Interregional, Regional and Local Political Public Associations

1. All-Russian political public associations created prior to the entry into effect of this Federal law shall have the right to transform into political parties in accordance with this Federal law within two years as of its effective date.

2. Prior to expiration of the term fixed under Item 1 of this Article, All-Russian political public associations shall have the right to participate in elections, including to nominate candidates (lists of candidates) for deputy and to other elective offices within state authorities and local self-administration bodies as is envisaged under the election the legislation of the Russian Federation.

3. Prior to expiration of the term fixed under Item 1 of this Article, a political party created by way of transformation of an All-Russian political public organization or of an All-Russian political public movement, shall have the right to take part in elections as of the day of state registration of the political party.

4. Prior to introduction of amendments into the legislation of the Russian Federation concerning the procedure for participation of political parties in elections to federal state authorities, state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-administration bodies, political parties shall take part in the said elections according to the procedure envisaged under the legislation of the Russian Federation with respect to All-Russian political public associations.

5. Upon the expiration of the term specified in Item 1 of this Article, an All-Russian political public association which has not been transformed into a political party, shall lose the status of a political public association and shall operate as an All-Russian public organization or an All-Russian public movement on the basis of the charter which shall be applicable in so far as it does not contradict this Federal law.

6. Upon the expiration of the term specified in Item 1 of this Article, the interregional, regional and local political public associations shall lose the status of a political public association and shall operate as interregional, regional or local public associations respectively on the basis of their charters which shall be applicable in so far as they do not contradict this Federal law.

Article 48. The Bringing of Statutory Legal Acts Into Line With This Federal Law

This suggested that the President of the Russian Federation and required that the government of the Russian Federation bring their statutory legal acts into line with this Federal Law.

President of the Russian Federation

V. Putin