Russia changes law on ownership
24 July 2014
Russia has amended its law on the management and disposition of property and shares owned by nuclear energy organisations.
The changes aim to "specify and liberalise" the procedure of transacting in the assets and shares of companies that own nuclear materials and facilities and which are listed as legal entities requiring approval from the President.
The amendments thus mandate Rosatom to approve certain transactions in shares where the corporation owns more than 50% of the authorised capital of a given subsidiary or affiliate company – without requiring preliminary consent of the President.
The State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, adopted these amendments to the federal law "on features of management and disposition of the property and shares of organisations operating in the field of nuclear energy" on 4 July. The Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, approved the changes on 9 July. President Vladimir Putin signed the amended law on 22 July, when it immediately came into effect.
The amendments are the latest legal change to the nuclear sector. Last month, Putin awarded the status of 'federal nuclear organisation' to eight state unitary enterprises (FSUE) within Rosatom. The move is aimed at firming up separation of the country's military and civilian nuclear assets. An FSUE is a government-owned corporation in Russia and some other post-Soviet states that has no ownership rights to the assets they use in their operations.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News