Duma members suggest banning work of taxi aggregators with foreign shareholders without president's permission in Russia
MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) - The Russian State Duma Transport and Infrastructure Development Committee has added for the second reading of a government-proposed bill on taxicabs an amendment that prohibits the operation in Russia of taxi services with foreign owners, a source familiar with this proposal told Interfax.
The ban will not apply to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) or those for which a separate presidential order will be issued.
Among other things, the Transport Committee also added provisions on mandatory professional training in the sphere of taxi and drivers' ratings.
The draft law "On the Organization of Passenger and Luggage Transportation by passenger taxi in Russia and on changes to some legislative acts" was submitted by the government to the State Duma in May and passed its first reading in July.
After considering the amendments submitted by the committee, the presidential state-legal directorate told its chairman Yevgeny Moskvichev they are conceptual in nature, which necessitates its approval by the government, a source told Interfax.
Most large aggregator companies now have foreign owners, minority shareholders or controlling owners, Anton Danilov-Danilyan, deputy chairman of Delovaya Rossiya, told Interfax. Delovaya Rossiya, in collaboration with other business organizations, is working on the bill and opposes this proposal.
What is important is the observance of the requirements of Russian legislation, not the fact of such companies' shareholder structure, the organization's deputy chairman said.
"We are categorically against such approach, it's unreasonable. If there are risks, let's describe them, let's look for other ways of reducing these risks," he said.
This edition of the bill may affect Yandex.Taxi, one of the largest taxi market players, a joint venture of Yandex and the U.S. company Uber Technologies , registered in the Netherlands. Yandex may soon conduct restructuring to divide its Russian and foreign businesses, but it is now unclear how it will affect the future of the joint venture.
The regulation of taxi services in Russia has been discussed for several years. A group of lawmakers started discussing the bill in 2018 (the bill was co-authorized by State Duma Committee head Yevgeny Moskvichev), which was declined this year.