«The Administrative Code will take financial situation into account» —Konstantin Dobrynin’s commentary to Kommersant FM
How will the new concept influence the amount of fines
Administrative fines in Russia will be calculated based on the offender’s income. The concept of the new Administrative Code published by the government implies taking into account the financial situation of a citizen when imposing a punitive measure. The amount of penalty may also be influenced by mitigating and aggravating circumstances. Kommersant FM talked to lawyers to find out who will benefit from these changes. Grigory Kolganov found out the details.
Dmitry Medvedev has once called the current Administrative Code pathetic and ordered to develop a new one. The concept published on the Government website turns out to contain a curious idea of taking into account the financial situation of a citizen and their family when determining the amount of the fine. But will punishment become more adequate? Senior Partner of Pen & Paper Attorneys at Law and former senator Konstantin Dobrynin hopes the new approach makes well-off Russians pay more. For some portion of offenders the existing fines do not even feel like punishment. Therefore they do not prevent future offenses. In this case the judge gets the chance to assess the actions and choose a punishment commensurate to the offender.
However Partner of Delcredere Attorneys at Law Maksim Stepanchuk is convinced of the opposite: there will be some relaxations for the not-so-rich, but they will have to be the ones to provide evidence of their poor financial situation. But most importantly, the novelty will not apply to traffic tickets, Stepanchuk believes. We are talking about offenses with large fines up to a few hundred thousand rubles. For example, under the article concerning fake news. The authority bringing the offender to liability may impose a fine in the amount of 300 to 400 thousand rubles. Besides, a smaller punishment is possible. If the citizen is very poor, they will be fined 30 thousand rubles. I don’t think that all crimes will be reevaluated as to public danger with regard to the amount of fine.