On 13 April the State Duma will hold a meeting where draft federal law No. 529791-5 «On introducing amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation in terms of defining the concept of small vessels»will be discussed in its third reading.The point of the discussed amendments: the draft law should give an unambiguous definition of the concept «small-sized vessel», its status, as well as divides the control of the executive authorities over such vessels.
Viktor Olersky, the Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, explained that the small vessel is a boat with a length of less than 20 meters. It will be registered in the State Inspectorate of Small-Sized Vessels of Russia only if the vessel is not engaged in commercial activities, is recreational or sporting.
« That is, if, regardless of length, there is commercial activity, for example, a fishing vessel, its registration is possible only in one of the state registers of vessels»,
- said the official. He didn't explain how control over the use of the vessel for its intended purpose will be carried out, but he added that according to his estimations several thousands of fleet units will have to be re-registered in the state registers (maintained by the structures subordinate to the Ministry of Transport of Russia) after this law is adopted.
The need for amendments had been long overdue - last year at night on July 31 in the Moscow River near the Luzhnetskaya embankment sank private pleasure boat "Swallow", which collided with a self-propelled barge "Oka-5". Eight people were killed (including the boat owner Gennady Singer), one was lost, and the others were rescued. The accident on the Moskva River happened three weeks after wreck of motorboat "Bulgaria" in Tatarstan, 122 people died as a result. Only 79 people were saved.
Everything seems to be fine. There are problems - the state offers solutions. The bill has already passed its second (!) reading. And then there is an expert, who for some reason has come to compare this document with another one, on the same topic. And he found a lot of mistakes, parallel spaces, repetitions, dark places and so on. - That is, in fact, drafts, but not a document ready for adoption! After reading the analysis, we can agree with the critic that
"One gets the impression that the majority of the officials, through whose hands these draft laws passed, have no business to delve into the content of the norms of the draft laws".
It seems to us that the only way to influence the situation is to send your comments and the description of the mistakes to the Committee on Transport of the State Duma and make your life easier in the future. And we, from our pages, will support any constructive initiative and promise not to stop vigilant eye to monitor the development of the situation.
