Licences and permits

What is happening

A company is opening a medical centre, starting a bus passenger service or taking on waste handling, and meets licensing for the first time. The requirements are spread across the regulation for that specific activity and related rules, and it is unclear what the premises, equipment and staff must satisfy.

The business is growing: new premises, additional work and services, a reorganisation. The licence register must be updated in time, and working at an address that is not in the register invites claims from the licensing authority and a fine.

A licence is refused on the basis of a shortcoming the company believes it has fixed, or an unscheduled inspection is followed by an application to court for revocation. What is at stake is the ability to keep operating.

What the law says

• The core rules are set by Federal Law No. 99-FZ of 4 May 2011 "On Licensing of Certain Types of Activity" (the Licensing Law): the list of licensed activities and the procedure for obtaining, amending, suspending and terminating a licence.
• A licence has no expiry date and exists as an entry in the licence register, evidenced by an extract from that register. New addresses, work, services and reorganisations are handled by amending the register on the licensee's application.
• Before granting a licence, the authority assesses whether the applicant meets the licensing requirements. Licensing supervision of existing licensees follows Federal Law No. 248-FZ of 31 July 2020 "On State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control in the Russian Federation".
• As a general rule, a licence can be revoked only by a court on the licensing authority's application. Pending the ruling, activity may be suspended, including by way of administrative suspension under the Code of Administrative Offences.
• The Code of Administrative Offences provides for fines on the company and its officers for operating without a licence or in breach of licensing requirements, and for serious breaches, suspension of activity.
• Some fields are licensed under special laws rather than the Licensing Law: alcohol trading, banking and insurance, and use of subsoil among them. Besides licences, businesses need other permits, such as building and commissioning permits under the Town Planning Code.

What we do

• We establish whether the planned activity needs a licence and what the licensing regulation requires.
• We check the company's readiness: premises, equipment, staff qualifications and experience, and the documents giving you the right to use the premises.
• We prepare and file the application with the supporting documents, support you through the compliance assessment and answer the authority's queries.
• We amend the licence register when your address changes, the scope of work expands or the company is reorganised.
• We challenge refusals to grant a licence or to amend the register, both through the pre-trial procedure and in the commercial court.
• We represent the company in suspension and revocation cases and in related administrative proceedings.

What we will need from you

• A description of the activity: what work and services, at which addresses and on what scale.
• Constitutional documents and details of the chief executive and the persons responsible.
• Documents for the premises and equipment: leases or land register extracts, sanitary and other certificates where required.
• Evidence of staff qualifications: diplomas, certificates, employment contracts.
• For a dispute: the refusal, the assessment or inspection report, any order, and the authority's court application.