On 3 July a briefing session entitled “A New Approach to Investment” was held in the studio of the well-known St. Petersburg artist Alexander Kondurov as part of a meeting of the COME IN CLUB. The overall theme of the event was the art market: its volume, financial investments, the place of the artist in the market, art foundations, and so on. Natalya Zelentsova, a lawyer in Maxima Legal’s Intellectual Property Department, highlighted the key aspects of the legal regulation of turnover in objects of pictorial art, informed those present about the copyright law relating to such objects, about the transportation of works of art which are cultural valuables out of the country and back to Russia, about matters of inheritance and other problems from her experience.

Those invited to take part in the briefing session were art historians, finance specialists, collectors, gallery owners, managers and owners of Russian and foreign companies providing support to business.

Maxim Avrashkov, Managing Partner of Maxima Legal, took part in a Strategic Session of the St. Petersburg branch of the Leaders Club on 3 and 4 July. The two-day session established the Club’s priorities, strategy and tactics, identified problem areas and the directions in which the Leaders Club should develop. In addition, a format was devised for feedback with the Club’s partners in executive authority bodies.

Club members discussed problems and questions relating to the interaction of the authorities and business in an open dialogue with high-ranking officials in the region. Those taking part in the discussion were: Maxim Kiselnikov, First Deputy Chair of the Leningrad Region’s Economic Development and Investment Committee; Irina Babyuk, Head of St. Petersburg’s Investment Committee; and Elena Ulyanova, Chair of St. Petersburg’s Economic Policy and Strategic Planning Committee.

As a result of the meeting it was agreed to set up a working group to support businessmen and experts within the framework of St. Petersburg’s Strategy 2030 on the “smart city” principle, and also to increase the level of information concerning measures to support small and medium-sized businesses in the region.

In its Issue No.5 of 2015 “Nalogoved” magazine published a review by Viktor Machekhin of Elena Kilinkarova’s manual “The Tax Law of Foreign Countries”.

The author of the review is a well-known specialist on tax law in both theory and practice: Viktor Machekhin is Assistant Professor in the Department of Financial Law at the Oleg Kutafin State Legal University in Moscow, Scientific Secretary of the Russian branch of the International Tax Association and Head of Linklaters’ Tax Department in Russia.

The reviewer appraised Elena Kilinkarova’s manual as a very opportune publication in current conditions, where tax lawyers need to know and understand new and alternative views on the problems of tax law. The merit of the manual is that it uses numerous contemporary overseas researches on foreign tax law, including some that have never previously been reflected in Russian literature.

Viktor Machekhin noted that Elena Kilinkarova’s manual is very valuable and timely not only for students, postgraduates and lecturers, but also for practising lawyers; it will open a new stage in the study and teaching of the tax law of foreign countries in Russia and the CIS.

A full version of the review is available at: http://nalogoved.ru/art/1943. The book can be ordered on: http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/29584085/

The “White Nights 2015” Tax Forum, organized by St. Petersburg State University and the Russian branch of the International Tax Association, was held at the university on 25 and 26 June. The tax forum was a platform for leading Russian lawyers and economists to discuss matters of current interest relating to taxation.

Elena Kilinkarova, adviser and Head of Maxima Legal’s Tax Law Department, acted as moderator in a round-table discussion on the tax aspects of the deoffshorization of the Russian economy.

The “Russian Transport Systems” Strategic Forum, organized by the Centre for the Development of Public-Private Partnerships with the support of the Russian Ministry of Transport, was held in Moscow on 2 and 3 July. The forum discussed matters relating to the development of transport systems within municipalities and conurbations.

Vladimir Kilinkarov, a Maxima Legal partner and Head of the Public-Private Partnership Department, was a speaker in the legal session and gave his opinion on the effect of the changes in Russian Federation legislation on the implementation of public-private partnerships in the transport sphere:

“We welcome unequivocally the adoption of the law on public-private partnerships, which is a great event for us. The law is not bad: it takes into account the interests of public and private partners desirous of implementing investment projects in which the object of infrastructure will belong to the private partner. Nevertheless, we can already see that the law is not yet complete and that some time will elapse before the first project under it can be launched. In addition, we should not just be happy with what has been achieved: it is necessary to continue to improve the legislation on concessions – that is what is most necessary and suitable for the implementation of transport projects”.