Prospects for the Humanization of Criminal Policy in the Field of Entrepreneurship (Critical Analysis of the New Draft Law of the Ministry of Justice of Russia)

The reason for writing this article was the Draft federal law prepared by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in pursuance of point 9 of the List of Orders of the President of Russia following the results of the XXV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum of July 20, 2022, aimed at liberalizing and humanizing criminal legislation on liability for economic crimes, including crimes in the field of entrepreneurship and crimes related to the implementation of entrepreneurial activities. The main purpose of the corresponding order of the President of the country to the Government and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation was to ensure the introduction of such changes into the federal legislation that would allow fully or partially (taking into account the level of real inflation in the country's economy) to decriminalize those crimes in the field of entrepreneurial activity (including acts related to the implementation of entrepreneurial activities without registration, license or accreditation), for the commission of which punishment in the form of imprisonment is not provided or applied. At the same time, the task of ensuring the priority of electing entrepreneurs suspected and accused of committing crimes of an economic nature (including members of the management bodies of commercial organizations) of such preventive measures that would allow them to continue to carry out entrepreneurial activities until their cancellation or sentencing had to be solved. The article presents the results of a critical analysis of the relevant bill, which allowed the author to conclude that this bill does not adequately meet the "letter" and "spirit" of the instructions of the President of Russia and does not allow achieving the above goals. The author proposes specific measures to eliminate the key shortcomings of the bill, including a significant expansion of the list of crimes of an economic nature, to which the provisions of Part 2 of Art. 761 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the conditions for exemption from criminal liability in connection with compensation for damage. The author also justifies the need to abandon some of the novelties of the Criminal Code proposed by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, which may reduce the level of criminal law protection of rights to immovable property.

criminal law, criminal procedure law, economic crimes, entrepreneurship, business entities, decriminalization, humanization