Can you guess how the Government is trying to significantly increase fines for breaking quarantine rules? Quick THREAD on coronavirus and Russian lawmaking. 👇1/? @KevinRothrock @gorokhovskaia @AlexNicest @Andrew__Roth
Russian media has been reporting that the Government has introduced a bill (законопроект) into the State Duma substantially increasing fines included in article 6.3 of the Code of Administrative Violations. 2/? interfax.ru/russia/700843
Article 6.3 relates to the "violation of legislation in the field of ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population". 3/? consultant.ru/document/cons_…
Whereas the current maximum fine for legal entities breaking rules in this area is 20,000 rubles, the Government is proposing a maximum fine of 1 million rubles. 4/? tass.ru/obschestvo/808…
But the Government *has not* introduced a bill into the State Duma with these changes. Rather, it has proposed amendments to a bill *already under consideration*. 5/?
That bill was introduced by the Government into the State Duma on 2 October 2019. Its subject? Increasing administrative punishment for carrying out illegal private security activities – nothing whatsoever to do with breaking quarantine rules. 6/? sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/804768-7
Why is the Government trying to change the law by amending a bill (tackling an entirely different topic) already being considered by the State Duma, rather than introducing a new bill? It's all about time. 7/?
The new fines can be brought into force quicker by "piggybacking" the proposals onto a bill that's already been adopted in 1st reading (on 19 February this year). 8/?sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/804768-7
The Russian term for these add-ons (which can result in omnibus bills) is "vagonchiki" (вагончики) – little wagons (as in adding a wagon to a train). 9/?
But there's a problem: amendments proposed for second reading that do not relate to the main concept of a bill adopted in first reading are not technically allowed. 10/?cyberleninka.ru/article/n/popr…
People often complain about this practice of bolting on amendments in second reading that have nothing to do with the original bill. See this complaint from Vyacheslav Volodin. 11/? pravo.ru/news/213009/
The Government signed off on making these amendments to its own bill at its meeting on Thursday 26 March. 12/?government.ru/meetings/39274… 
@threadreaderapp unroll
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
