23/04/2025, a meeting of the Public Council of the Business Protection Center under the Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs’ Rights in Moscow was held, which was attended by Tatiana Tsepkina.
The Business Ombudsman of the capital, Tatiana Sizova (Mineeva), addressed the audience with a welcoming speech, noting the positive results of the Council’s work, which became a platform for public discussion of cases of illegal criminal prosecution of businesses and pressure on entrepreneurs from the authorities.
In addition to the issues on the agenda regarding the consideration of complaints from entrepreneurs about the illegal application of a preventive measure in the form of detention, the meeting participants discussed an alarming trend in judicial practice regarding the application of Article 169 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in tax disputes. The innovative application of this rule, which provides for the invalidation of transactions that contradict the “fundamentals of law and order and morality,” consists in collecting not only fines and tax surcharges from companies using questionable tax schemes, but also the entire amount of the transaction. The experts participating in the discussion are convinced that the new approach of the courts actually creates a regime of double responsibility and is a signal to businesses about the need to improve legal literacy. The Commissioner’s ecosystem projects provide such an opportunity.
