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- Fundamental decision: fines for developers can be replaced with mandatory investments
Fundamental decision: fines for developers can be replaced with mandatory investments
In Russia, they want to give businesses more chances to improve without ruinous fines. Instead of paying fees, companies may be allowed to use the money to fix violations— for example, to upgrade, secure, and upgrade equipment. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry proposed to the Ministry of Energy to expand this practice to construction, transport, services, as well as fire and sanitary safety. So far, this tool only works in eight industries, including industry and pharmaceuticals. The new measure will reduce the risks of bankruptcy and at the same time support economic growth. How much it can cost the budget and how the authorities close loopholes for fraud, — in the Izvestia article.
Under what conditions can a business avoid paying fines
Since 2025, the "Investments instead of fines" mechanism has been launched in the Russian Federation. It allows companies and government organizations not to pay an administrative fee, but to direct this money to eliminate violations. To do this, you need to conclude an agreement with the supervisory authority.
The initiator of the innovation was the Ministry of Energy. The agency hopes that the new approach will help businesses not to stop working and fix problems through investments in development, rather than through punishments.
However, it was not possible to launch the mechanism immediately: additional rules were needed on who could conclude such agreements and exactly how to do it. The Ministry of Energy prepared these clarifications together with the Prosecutor General's Office, and the government approved the resolution by the beginning of summer 2025.
So far, the mechanism operates only in eight areas of federal supervision. Among them are industrial and energy security, mining supervision, environmental and land control, as well as licensing of drug production.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes that this is not enough. The association sent a letter to Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development, signed by Sergey Katyrin, Head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Izvestia has it). The document says that the limited list of directions makes it difficult to apply the mechanism, although the business is interested in it.
The CCI proposes to expand the program to cover construction, fire and sanitary safety, labor protection, transport and the service sector. This will make the tool more operational and will allow to eliminate violations without risk to citizens and without stopping the work of companies, said Sergey Katyrin.
— The "Investments instead of fines" mechanism is an attempt to make control more effective. If the company cannot fix the violation quickly, it can coordinate a longer plan with the supervisory authorities. During this period, business invests in solving the problem, and the state refuses fines," the head of the chamber emphasized.
According to him, this is not about avoiding responsibility. The organization must acknowledge the results of the audit, submit a roadmap, and regularly report on the progress of work. The supervisory authorities and the prosecutor's office continue to monitor, and the state gets a real result — the elimination of violations, not just the collection of money.
Now the mechanism looks like this: the company submits a petition through Gosuslugi within 10 working days, then the supervisory authority considers it for about three weeks. If the decision is positive, the parties will agree on a plan for up to three years. No penalties are applied if the conditions are met. You can apply for violations identified since June 1, 2025.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Energy.
How will freeing companies from fines affect the economy
Now the mechanism is used when large investments and time are needed to eliminate violations, and the organization is of high economic, social or strategic importance, explained Dmitry Zavyalov, Dean of the Higher School of Economics and Business at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
This is especially important when it is difficult for a company to pay a fine and finance the elimination of a problem at the same time, said Fyodor Sidorov, a private investor and founder of the School of Practical Investment. As the number of inspections decreased from 1.5 million in 2019 to 263,000 in 11 months of 2025, control is increasingly shifting towards prevention and voluntary correction of violations.
The first agreements with Rostechnadzor have already been approved by the prosecutor's office in the Kaluga and Ulyanovsk regions, Dmitry Zavyalov noted. We are talking about situations where major work is needed — installation of sewage treatment plants, modernization of hazardous industries, replacement of worn-out equipment. A fine of several hundred thousand or millions will go to the budget, but the problem itself will remain.
The CCI also pays attention to the financial side. According to the Ministry of Finance, revenues from fines in the field of entrepreneurship amounted to almost 5 billion rubles by the end of 2025. The chamber believes that investing comparable funds in eliminating violations would have a greater economic effect than simply replenishing the budget.
The amount itself is not critical for the budget, but the incentive is more important: it is more profitable for companies to solve problems in advance, rather than waiting for inspections and risking bankruptcy, Fyodor Sidorov added.
This would be a plus for the economy, as investment growth is the basis for future development, said Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global. She recalled that the federal budget received more than 32 billion in 2024 for environmental violations alone, which could have been used to build several new plants. Therefore, it is better that the money remains with the business and goes to modernization.
The initiative looks timely, says Alexander Taskaev, a member of the General Council of Delovaya Rossiya and the Board of Directors of TSD Group of Companies. Given the slowdown in economic growth and limited access to credit, it is important to move from punitive to incentive controls. Redirecting fines to investments can speed up capacity upgrades and improve security without incurring additional budget costs.
At the same time, the procedure remains complicated, said Anastasia Gorelkina, an expert in the field of corporate governance and personnel training, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Siberian Business Union. In a month and a half, only two agreements have been concluded, both are still being coordinated by the prosecutor's office. The criteria for which violations fall under the mechanism are not yet fully understood. It makes sense to expand the program only after the emergence of a sustainable practice, otherwise it risks becoming a bureaucratic maze.
At the same time, the initiative's potential is great: in construction, transportation, and catering, serious investments are often needed — ventilation, evacuation routes, and security systems, she added.
Can a business cunningly use a benefit
But there are also risks of abuse. Fictitious investment projects, overestimation of the cost of work, or formal elimination of violations without real changes are possible, warned Alexander Taskaev from Delovaya Rossiya. Such threats can be reduced through a digital project registry, public reporting, and independent technical audit.
Investor Fyodor Sidorov agreed that in order for the mechanism not to turn into a way to evade responsibility, transparent control of the prosecutor's office is needed at every stage, clear deadlines and harsh consequences for failure to comply with obligations.
In addition to the supervisory authorities, other financial institutions can be connected, says Natalia Milchakova from Freedom Finance Global. For example, auditors and tax authorities who could report irregularities in the spending of funds. In such cases, fines should increase several times — then it will be more profitable for businesses to actually fix problems rather than circumvent the requirements, she noted.
The prosecutor's office already checks every agreement, which reduces corruption risks, Anastasia Gorelkina emphasized. But it slows down the process. If the mechanism is expanded to new areas, where there may be thousands of agreements, a simpler and more understandable procedure will be required. For example, there are automatic criteria: investments must exceed the fine by at least twice, the deadline for elimination is no more than a year, and mandatory independent monitoring of the result.
At the same time, fines remain an important tool for influencing enterprises, said Dmitry Zavyalov from Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. Their absence may reduce the motivation of companies to comply with the requirements.
However, according to Alexander Taskaev, if properly implemented, the mechanism can become one of the key incentives for the economy without additional budget expenditures.
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