Updated draft law on mining in Russia submitted to the State Duma

What’s new? A new version of the law “On Mining in the Russian Federation” has been registered in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The previous version of the document was shelved, and a number of provisions on the register and tax amnesty for mining participants were also removed from it.

The full version of the draft law on the State Duma’s website

What changes have been made to the document? The provisions of the original version of the document regarding the creation of a register of mining participants and temporary tax exemption have been shelved. The main reason is that these initiatives may entail additional expenses for the federal budget, according to the State Duma’s legal department’s review of the first version of the draft law.

Previously, the register was expected to include individuals engaged in cryptocurrency mining, as well as mining operators. Otherwise, the new version of the draft law repeats the previous one.

What events happened before? The draft law “On Mining in the Russian Federation” was submitted to the State Duma on April 29 by deputies from the “New People” party. Initially, the document provided for registration in the register of mining participants, if their electricity consumption exceeds the limits set by the Russian government. Also, individuals are proposed to be allowed to engage in cryptocurrency mining, subject to registration as an individual entrepreneur or self-employed person.

Earlier, on April 21, Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina reported the preparation of a systematic solution on the issues of mining jointly with the Government of the Russian Federation. She noted that if adopted, an experimental regulatory regime and limits would not be needed.

In May, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) introduced new rules for calculating electricity tariffs for the population and proposed setting a special consumption threshold for miners. Each region would independently determine how much electricity can be consumed at standard tariffs for the population, given the local peculiarities, the FAS noted.