The key event of the 2023 All-Russian Forum of Control Authorities was a plenary session with the participation of representatives of the Federation Council, the State Duma, the Government, the Prosecutor’s Office of Saint Petersburg,  the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Speaking at the “Security of Citizens. Freedom of Business” plenary session, Ms. Svetlana Orlova, Member of the Board of SAI Russia, highlighted the cross-border nature of the control and supervision activities topic. Therefore, it is important to develop the uniform rules in this domain.

We need to strive for the uniform rules and approaches to the control and supervision system in any country. The key point is ensuring that these requirements are not excessive. That is what we need to strive for. Considerable work has been done in Russia recently to improve this domain. We have redefined the concept of control, and we are introducing the integrity environment. This is a new approach to public administration. Major systemic efforts have been made by the Parliament, the Government, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and of course, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia as well as the control authorities themselves. We are virtually creating a unified landscape of control and supervision activities that our business, people, and the country as a whole will benefit from,

Svetlana Orlova said.      

Meanwhile, certain issues indicate the need for further improvements in the control and supervision system. For example, a risk-based approach has not yet been implemented widely enough when planning control activities.

The analysis conducted by the Accounts Chamber showed that the share of unscheduled inspections conducted on the grounds of ‘triggered’ risk indicators has increased this year, however, it is still insignificant – only 2.3%. But 66.7% of them have revealed violations.

Such performance confirms that, with the risk-based approach, we are moving in the right direction,” Svetlana Orlova noted. “Therefore, we will continue to monitor this topic. Today, the Government is already making efforts to strengthen the ‘risk indicators’ block. By the end of 2023, at least 180 indicators should be approved in addition to the 187 currently introduced.  

According to Ms Orlova, it is equally important to develop the preventive component of control, in particular, through the development of the preventive visits practice.

This is especially important for social facilities,” the Auditor emphasized. “Why do we need to burden schools, hospitals, and kindergartens with inspections? Those tend to result in issuing prescriptions and imposing fines. All this puts a burden on the budget, diverting funds allocated for development. It would be better to strengthen the prevention procedures, not punishment.  

The meeting of the Working Group of the State Duma Committee on Control, which Svetlana Orlova attended as well, was also devoted to discussing the results of reforms in the control and supervision activities.

During the discussion, the Auditor noted the need for efforts to further adjust the control and supervision system, in particular, as part of implementing the recommendations of SAI Russia aimed at improvements in this regard .

The government has accepted all our recommendations that were further taken into processing by the relevant departments. Moreover, 40% of the same has already been implemented. This indicates confidence in the results of the Accounts Chamber’s activities. We, in turn, will keep this topic under control,

she concluded.