Operating authority – Rosatom State Corporation

Comments about the status of Rosatom

In the context of the ongoing administrative reform of governmental authorities in the Russian Federation the powers of atomic agency increase. In 2008, Rosatom State Corporation was established, which incorporated all companies, operating in the nuclear industry both in military and civilian sectors. Moreover, this corporation performs state functions of regulating the whole Russian nuclear complex.
State corporation, as a legal organizational form, is particularly interesting since for the modern Russian legislation it is a novelty. This legal organizational form, which is not provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, incredible as it may seem, is one of types of non-profit organizations.
Initially, the regulations on state corporations appeared in the Federal Law On Non-profit Organizations which stipulated that state corporation shall mean a non-profit organization without membership, incorporated by the Russian Federation basing on property contribution and established to perform social, administrative or other socially useful functions. State corporation is established under federal laws. The first state corporation, Agency for Restructuring Credit Organizations (ARCO), was established in 1999, and then dissolved in July 2004, and subsequently by the Federal Law no.177-ФЗ dated of December 23, 2003, state corporation, Deposit Insurance Agency, was established and is operating up till now. During 2007, six more state corporations were established: On Development Bank, On Russian Corporation of Nanotechnology, On the Foundation for the Reform of Housing and Communal Services, On the State Corporation on Construction of Olympic Venues and Development of Sochi as a Mountain Resort, On Rostekhnologia State Corporation, On Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Rosatom SC). Thus, presently there are already seven state corporations operating in the Russian Federation.
Analyzing the legal organizational form it is possible to distinguish several features characteristic of state corporations:
1) corporation is a legal entity;
2) corporation, on the one hand, is a for-profit organization in respect of which its members have liability rights, and on the other hand, it is a non-profit organization, as far as deriving of profit is not its main objective;
3) corporation is an organization, uniting entities on contractual arrangements, or is set up by one entity (e.g. state), liability of which is limited;
4) corporation is a party to the civil law relations with a clear organizational structure, including the structure of its regulatory bodies, the highest of which is the General Meeting of Participants (Members).
5) corporation may, where the law permits, perform functions of state management, e.g., Rosatom SC.
The objects for which Rosatom SC is established are to carry out the state policy, exercise normative legal regulation, render public services and administrate state-owned property in the field of nuclear energy use, development and safe running of the organizations of nuclear power generation and nuclear weapon complex of the Russian Federation, ensure nuclear and radiation safety, non-proliferation of nuclear materials and technologies, development of nuclear science, nuclear technology and professional education, and to effect international cooperation in this field.
Among the objectives, listed in the law, development of nuclear power generation and nuclear weapon complexes should be specially noted. On the one hand, there are various international agreements aimed at nuclear disarmament, on the other hand, the law declares the goal to develop the nuclear weapon complex. The explicit contradiction of goals, stipulated in the law, and regulations, vested in international treaties (e.g., START-1), is obvious. Such situation is, in its turn, in contradiction with the Constitution of the Russian Federation (par.4 Article 15).
What concerns the property of state corporation, the property, transferred by the Russian Federation to the state corporation, is its ownership and is automatically removed from the register of state-owned property. This is a fundamental distinction of corporation from unitary enterprises. Corporations are not subject to direct control of the government; their CEOs are appointed by the President of the Russian Federation.
The Russian Federation transfers to Rosatom SC as property contributions:
1) during establishment:
a) publicly owned shares of Nuclear Power Generation Complex Open Joint-Stock Company (Moscow City);
b) property, assigned, on the basis of operational management, to the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, including the premises located at the following addresses: 24/26 Bolshaya Ordynka Street, Moscow; 26 Staromonetny Lane, Moscow; and 26 Staromonetny Lane, building 2, Moscow, once the decision on dissolution of the said Federal Agency has been adopted in accordance with the established procedure;
2) publicly owned shares of open joint-stock companies according to the list approved by the President of the Russian Federation (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation no.369 dated of March 20, 2008)
3) property complexes of federal state unitary enterprises according to the list approved by the President of the Russian Federation (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation no.369 dated of March 20, 2008);
4) property, assigned, on the basis of operational management, to the federal state unitary enterprises transferable to Rosatom SC according to the list approved by the Government of the Russian Federation (Government Order of the Russian Federation no.346 dated of May 06, 2008);
5) funds from the federal budget allocated to Rosatom SC to implement the activities, provided for by the long-term program of corporation activities (e.g., The Long-term Program of Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation Activities (2009 – 2015)), approved by Government Order of the Russian Federation no.705 dated of September 20, 2008);
6) other publicly owned property, management of which is exercised by the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, with the exception of special raw materials and fissionable materials, which may be exclusively in the federal ownership.
The corporation has a number of dissimilarities from other legal entities. To establish a corporation the constitutive documents, which are provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, are not required. The Russian Federation is not responsible for the obligations of the Corporation and the Corporation is not responsible for the obligations of the Russian Federation, unless they have admitted the respective obligations. Federal agencies of state authority, governmental authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, bodies of local self government of municipalities are not entitled to interfere in the activities of Corporation and its officers to achieve the goals established by law.
Thus, for example, the control on behalf of the Federal Antimonopoly Service not only over joint-stock companies and holdings affiliated with the state corporation but also over the state corporation itself is not possible. The Corporation is not subject to the Federal Law On Insolvency (Bankruptcy). The Corporation has right to establish security.
As already stated, Rosatom SC is imposed with the functions of state management. In this regard, the corporation provides: normative legal regulation in the field of nuclear energy use; powers and functions of ensuring nuclear energy use safety; powers and functions of civil defense and protection of population and territory in emergency situations; powers and functions to manage the public stock of special raw materials and fissionable materials; authority for enforcement of the government’s defense order; powers and functions of participation in international cooperation in the field of nuclear energy use.
It should be specially noted that the Corporation is vested with the control functions with respect to itself and to the companies, affiliated with the same. Firstly, under the existing laws, the Corporation carries out licensing of nuclear materials and radioactive substance use activities performed while conducting operations on the use of nuclear energy for defense purpose. Secondly, the Corporation is engaged in development of the very rules and regulations establishing requirements for the safe use of nuclear energy and reconciles the same. That is, for example, Rostekhnadzor of the Russian Federation will not be able to implement the regulation in the sphere of nuclear and radiation safety independently without coordination with Rosatom SC.
These are the main legal provisions, describing the activities of Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation at the present stage.

Andrey Talevlin
Chairperson of the public fund “For Nature”,
Chelyabinsk, Russia