They propose to fine a million rubles for falsifying products - Irina Rukavishnikova

Irina Rukavishnikova, one of the initiators of the innovations, first deputy head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction, told the Parliamentary Newspaper about how they will be punished for non-compliance with the requirements for land improvement related to the destruction of harmful plants, and why it was decided to raise penalties for falsifying food products to one million rubles.

Manufacturers in the regions have been reporting for a long time that responsibility for the sale of falsified household appliances, clothing, food and beverages should be tightened. It often happens that a bottle of a "dairy product" stuffed with chemicals is sold under the brand of organic farm milk. At the same time, the price is two times lower than that of a farmer’s. As a result, not only the economy suffers, but also the reputation of farms.

The current Administrative Code provides for punishment only for the circulation of falsified goods and only for specific products: medicines and medical products, wine products, as well as dietary supplements. Therefore, it is not the first year that the regions have been asking to introduce responsibility for any consumer falsification in the Administrative Code - their initiatives were summarized on the site of the Federation Council and sent to the Ministry of Justice. As explained by the initiator of this work, Senator Irina Rukavishnikova, the result of the discussion was an article for the draft of the new code - "Production and (or) circulation of falsified goods."

It provides for a fine with possible confiscation of goods for officials - fr om 50 to 100 thousand rubles, for individual entrepreneurs — 100-250 thousand. For legal entities, the fine will be from 250 thousand to one million rubles.

‘This article, which is included in the draft of the new edition of the Administrative Code, is fundamentally new and applies to almost the entire range of consumer goods manufactured and sold in Russia. I note that the article was developed in accordance with numerous requests from the regions,’ Irina Rukavishnikova explained.

The revised draft of the new Administrative Code reflects another long-standing wish of the regions - an article on responsibility for refusing to destroy toxic weeds. Among them is cow parsnip. The juice of these huge plants with umbels destroys the sunscreen film on the human skin, after which the rays leave severe burns on these areas. It is also necessary to eliminate ragweed, the flowering of which provokes acute attacks of bronchial asthma up to a lethal effect, especially in allergy sufferers and people with chronic diseases.

According to Rukavishnikova, these sanctions have become an integral part of the new article 16.9 "Violations of requirements in the field of land improvement". The new edition of the Administrative Code provides for the following mechanism: first, the owner of the land plot wh ere, say, a cow parsnip grows, is warned, and then, if the problem is not eliminated, a fine is issued. It will amount to 1-3.5 thousand rubles for citizens, 5-10 thousand rubles for officials, 20-40 thousand rubles for individual entrepreneurs and legal entities.

At the same time, the senator drew attention to two fundamentally important things: ‘Firstly, each region will establish the list of specific weeds, the growth of which is unacceptable, independently, based on its needs. Secondly, it is proposed to entrust the administration of these offenses to regional authorities and local self-government bodies.’