Some sanctions-related rules for information disclosure have expired, new ones not made public - Russian ministry

MOSCOW. July 4 (Interfax) - Russian Government Decree No. 351, allowing issuers not to publish corporate reports as of March 2022 due to fear of Western sanctions, expired on July 1. The new disclosure rules with a special list of data that are restricted depending on sanctions risks, announced earlier by the Finance Ministry, the Economic Development Ministry and the Bank of Russia have yet to be published.

"Currently, a number of Russian government decrees remain in force related to the disclosure of certain information with consideration to sanctions risks. For example, there is Government Decree No. 400 dated April 4, 2019 "On the features of the disclosure and provision of information subject to disclosure and provision in accordance with the requirements of Federal Law 'On Joint-Stock Companies' and the Federal Law 'On the Securities Market,' First Deputy Economic Development Minister Ilya Torosov told Interfax through the ministry's press service.

Decree No. 400 allows issuers, due to the threat of sanctions, or those already subject to them, as well as authorized banks working with state defense orders, not to disclose data from a special list. It contains specific information about shareholders and controlling persons of the issuer, members of its management bodies, subsidiaries, and counterparties, etc.

In the spring of 2023, it became known that some government agencies were preparing a special decree which would provide various categories of domestic issuers with unique lists of sensitive data that are allowed not to be made public due to sanctions threats.

Officials called the creation of this list a compromise between returning to full disclosure and maintaining the rules that were in effect before July 1.

A draft legal act has already been prepared with the participation of the Economic Development Ministry, which contains a list of information to be restricted and the grounds for its restriction, Torosov said.

Under current conditions, in order to develop the capital market and debt financing, the optimal disclosure of information is necessary, but with the exception of sensitive data from the standpoint of sanctions, the First Deputy Minister said.

At the end of June, representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Russia confirmed their earlier positions on the need to return to the publication of corporate information, with the exception of data, which is sensitive to sanctions risks.