Translations of Russian Legislation
by Alexander Nikiforov
Russian lawyers are increasingly relying on the Internet for doing legal and
business research, communicating with existing and finding new clients. In
addition, the Internet contributes a great deal to changing the way government
agencies operate and handle the normative documents they produce. There
has been tremendous progress in making information of a legal nature more
accessible both to professional lawyers and to the general public. As the
Russian deputy minister of economic development recently put it, the Internet
is recognized as the “optimum channel for information dissemination” by the
Russian government, and major new initiatives for its use in information
disclosure are underway.
Naturally, most Russia-related legal information that is available on the Internet
is in Russian. However, attorneys handling matters that involve Russian parties
around the world often need to get access to Russian legislation in English.
Depending on the purpose, it may be necessary to use the services of a legal
counsel that has practice in Russia or a legal translator. Purchasing published
high quality translations, a paid subscription to the Garant database of Russian
legislation in English or accessing this database through Lexis may be other
options. Still, in many cases the necessary translations are available on the
Internet at no cost.
Some of these translations are excellent, while others are just “monkey English”
renderings of Russian texts. Some translations are English versions of the most
recent Russian texts, and others may be awfully outdated. Needless to say that
their use should very much depend on particular circumstances, and one must
exercise his/her best judgement and caution when using free translations.
That being said, here is a mini-directory of web resources that provide access
to translations of Russian laws.
Constitutional Court - Constitution of the Russian Federation, the law on
Constitutional Court, summaries of and some full-text Court's rulings in English
posted on the official website of the Court.
Ernst & Young: Russian Legislation - A comprehensive and fully searchable
collection of English translations of Russian legislation in addition to analysis
of major changes in Russian tax legislation and daily news on legislative
changes. Access to the database is free, but requires registration that is
granted at the discretion of the site owner and may take some time to get.
Global Banking Law Database - Translations of Russian laws on Banks and
Banking Activity, Insolvency of Credit Institutions, and the Central Bank from a
database maintained by the World Bank and IMF.
Privatization Link Russia - Laws and Regulations - A collection of full-text
legislation and legal commentaries. Includes both federal and regional
documents that can be sorted by region or by subject. Full-text English
translations include privatization law, stock company law, legislation on
telecommunications, media and other topics.
NETLEX: Russian Federation – Four full-text translations from the International
Labor Organization's NETLEX database: laws on freedom of association,
collective bargaining and employment accident benefits and, most importantly,
the new labor code.
Internews Russia: Laws of The Russian Federation - English translations of
several basic laws on media, telecommunications and advertisement.
Commentaries on legal issues in the media sector prepared by the Moscow
Media Law and Policy Center are also available.
Intelcom Internet Club – A web resource that focuses
on legal protection and commercial use of intellectual property. Includes a database of relevant Russian
legislation in English, news, glossary of specialized terms and analytical reports. Free registration is
required to access full texts of laws in English.
Federal Commission for the Securities Market -
News on the Commission's activities and English translations of official documents concerning the Russian
securities market issued prior to 1999.
Russian Space Policy Documents -
Overview of Russian legislation related to space policy, with English translations of some documents
issued prior to 1999. Maintained by Russian Institute for Space Policy and Federation of American Scientists.
Legislationline.org: Russian Federation - Overview of Russian political and legislative system. Access to full-text translations of legal acts on citizenship, elections and human rights from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Republic of Tatarstan –
Constitution and major law of Republic of Tatarstan that affect foreign investment and trade
translated in into English.
Of course, there are many other translations scattered around the Internet.
Plus, websites come and go; some translations are added and some disappear.
The following link can help to keep up to date with new materials on Russian law in
general and Russian legislative translations in particular:
Open Directory Project, Russian section.
This is a regularly updated section on Russian law of the Open Directory Project, a web-based volunteer-edited directory.
Dr. Alexander Nikiforov works as Head of Research at the Moscow office of
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae L.L.P., international law firm.
The views and opinions presented in this article are the author’s
only and not of his employer.
email anikifor@llgm.com.
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