The Government Decree setting out a new list of mandatory construction standards and regulations entered into force in August 2020. As a result, more than 3 thousand outdated standards and regulations are no longer mandatory in Russian construction projects. The Government plans to continue repealing further mandatory requirements as part of its overall review of outdated and excessive regulations in 2021.

The Russian Government has adopted a new list of mandatory construction regulations reducing the total number of mandatory regulations by 30% and excluding outdated and excessive rules (see Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 04.07.2020 No. 985). The new list entered into force on 1 August 2020. Simultaneously, the previously applicable list of mandatory standards and regulations has ceased to be valid.

However, in a number of cases construction participants may still rely on the old standards regulations to avoid revising existing design documentation or engineering surveys. During the interim period, design documentation and engineering surveys that were started to be developed before 1 August 2020 and have been submitted for expert approval will be checked for compliance with the standards and regulations that were mandatory before the new Decree was adopted (the previous list of mandatory regulations and standards is contained in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 26.12.2014 No. 1521).

Moreover, as part of the so-called “regulatory guillotine” policy, the Russian Government has a duty to additionally review existing regulations and repeal even more outdated rules by 1 January 2021. Starting from 2021, the regulations that were not repealed but came into force before 2020 can be breached without the risk of administrative penalties. However, the Russian Government will be able to envisage exceptions from this rule (see the Federal Law dated 31.07.2020 No. 247-ФЗ “On mandatory requirements in the Russian Federation”).