Reports

A major challenge facing the Republic of Buryatia, subject of the Russian Federation, is how to balance the task of protecting Lake Baikal – a unique water object and ecological system included in the UNESCO list of World Natural Heritage Areas – with the need for dynamic and sustainable socio-economic development of the republic.  This requires streamlining and improving water policy jointly with economic, administrative, information and other policy instruments. The recommendations in this report aim to help achieve this objective. They include the introduction of abstraction charges for irrigation water as a  natural resource; enhancement of state support to the water sector; and improvement of economic instruments for managing risks of water-related hazards (such as compulsory insurance and differentiated land tax rates in flood prone areas). A few innovative instruments are also recommended for pilot testing such as establishing limits for discharges of certain hazardous substances in a pilot area (e.g. Selenga river basin) and progressive development of market for tradable quotas for discharges of the 'capped' pollutants; and introducing a charge (tax) on toxic agricultural chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, etc.) and synthetic detergents so that to create incentives for the reduction of diffuse water pollution.

This publication examines the major policy challenges, achievements and next steps for the creation of a more entrepreneurial population and a stronger SME sector in the Russian Federation, which are critical to the country’s economic growth and diversification. Despite less regulatory burdens and more subsidy financing for start-ups, production modernisation, innovation and exporting, framework conditions need to be improved in areas such as the rule of law, commercialising science and improving entrepreneurial skills and education. Gaps in SME and entrepreneurship programmes also need to be filled, such as through new initiatives for high-growth firms and large firm-SME linkages. Strengthening business development services infrastructure and improving access to finance are further important challenges. All these improvements will need to be spread across the regions of the Russian Federation if national objectives for growth and balanced spatial development are to be met.

Bringing together the city of Krasnoyarsk and six adjacent smaller cities and rural districts, the Krasnoyarsk Agglomeration is increasingly emerging as the main economic hub of Eastern Siberia. Its relative weight in both population and economic activity continues to grow. This review examines the Agglomeration’s performance and potential, particularly with reference to such critical challenges as internal and external connectivity, human capital formation and innovation. These issues are analysed in the context of Krasnoyarsk’s unusual economic geography, which involves tremendous natural wealth, but also remote location, severe climatic conditions and relatively low density of settlement. Its experience is thus relevant to many remote, resource-rich regions across the globe.

This report contains the 2014 'Phase 2: Implementation of the Standards in Practice' Global Forum review of the Russian Federation. The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is the multilateral framework within which work in the area of tax transparency and exchange of information is carried out by over 120 jurisdictions which participate in the work of the Global Forum on an equal footing. The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. These standards are primarily reflected in the 2002 OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters and its commentary, and in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital and its commentary as updated in 2004, which has been incorporated in the UN Model Tax Convention. The standards provide for international exchange on request of foreseeably relevant information for the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of a requesting party. 'Fishing expeditions' are not authorised, but all foreseeably relevant information must be provided, including bank information and information held by fiduciaries, regardless of the existence of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard. All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identified by the Global Forum as relevant to its work, are being reviewed. This process is undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 reviews assess the quality of a jurisdiction’s legal and regulatory framework for the exchange of information, while Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation of that framework. Some Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 plus Phase 2 – reviews. The ultimate goal is to help jurisdictions to effectively implement the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.