The Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation has developed a draft amendment providing for the possibility of concluding agreements between utility operators and collectors, RIA Novosti reports, citing the response of the Ministry of the Russian Association for Water Supply and Sanitation (RAVV). Since 2019, it has been prohibited to assign to third parties the right to recover debts for housing and communal services, and in May 2021, the State Duma in the first reading approved a bill prohibiting the conclusion of contracts with collectors or providing them with a power of attorney.
The ministry proposes to preserve the possibility of concluding with collectors “commission agreements, agency agreements, commission agreements, as well as other agreements aimed at returning overdue debts on payment for housing and utilities,” but with certain restrictions. In particular, it is proposed to allow the conclusion of contracts only with those collectors that are included in the register and for which collection activity is the main one.
The bill on the prohibition of contracts, approved in the first reading, “will lead to a further increase in accounts receivable of water supply and sewerage organizations”, which will lead to a deterioration in the quality of drinking water, violations in wastewater treatment and “deprivation of the constitutional right of citizens to a favorable environment. Wednesday “, said RAVV in a letter to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Marat Khusnullin, drawn up jointly with” Russian Communal Systems “and” Rosvodokanal “.
The bill limiting the rights of collectors and housing and communal services companies also provides for criminal punishment for illegal actions to recover debts. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that according to the current legislation “it is impossible to prosecute for violations of the legislation on collection activities in a number of cases.”
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