Russian auditors will be able to open offices in friendly countries without losing access to sensitive data

MOSCOW. Oct 13 (Interfax) - Russian auditors will be able to have subsidiary structures in countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and other friendly states without the risk of losing access to information restricted from foreigners.

A corresponding decree of the Russian government was published on the official online portal for legal information on Friday.

The amendments were made to Russian government decree no. 622 of April 19, 2021, which among other things permits a number of organizations to provide information to auditors who are part of the same group of individuals as a foreign citizen, stateless person or foreign legal entity, but only in a reduced form, without information considered sensitive from the point of view of sanctions pressure. Permission to provide data only with omissions is granted in particular to issuers of securities, credit and insurance organizations, specialized depositories, defense industry enterprises, and others.

The published decree establishes that such rules do not apply to Russian audit firms that have subsidiary structures in EAEU member states or other states not included in the list of unfriendly countries. Being in the same group as such a foreign subsidiary will be permissible for Russian auditors, provided all other criteria are met.

The Russian Finance Ministry proposed such a measure three years ago. The authors of the initiative explained that the presence of a subsidiary structure abroad for an audit company could be interpreted as being part of the same group of persons as a foreign organization. Therefore, clients might be afraid to enter into contracts with auditors that have subsidiary organizations outside Russia, which negatively affects the conduct of business by Russian companies outside the country.