Anna Mirochinenko: subsidies to agricultural producers must be transparent and regulated

“Enforcement in granting subsidies became one of the priorities of FAS work in 2015”, stated the Head of FAS Department for Control over Chemical Industry and Agriculture, Anna Mirochinenko, at the XXVII Congress of Russian Farmers on 11 February 2016.

She made a report on the measures undertaken by FAS to evaluate the situation with granting subsidies to agricultural producers.

“To evaluate availability of subsidies for agricultural producers, a survey of the authorities regulating the agro-industrial sectors in the constituent territories of the Russian Federation was carried out. Apparently, majority of the subjects do not keep Registers of potential recipients of subsidies allocated to support the agriculture. Only 7 regions kept such Registers. Also, when FAS analyzed the reasons for refusals to grant subsidies, we found that the main one was exhausting the expenditure credits”, emphasized the speaker. “At the same time we have not identified any regulation over the order of priorities in granting subsidies under such conditions at the regional level. We also revealed a very low level of informational support for the subsidizing procedure when recipients do not know about the scope of the allocated funds”.

“FAS analyzed the regulatory framework for granting subsidies. We exposed elements that can result in restricting competition or violating the antimonopoly law in the process of granting subsidies. First of all, it is numerous and frequently excessive requirements for obtaining subsidies. We also found that criteria for selecting candidates to get the grants given to farmers are non-transparent”, pointed out Anna Mirochinenko.

In follow-up of the survey and inspections, FAS and its regional offices opened more than 50 cases upon elements of violating the antimonopoly law by executive bodies in the constituent territories of the Russian Federation. In several regions proposals are drafted to amend regulatory acts, cooperation with the regional authorities on devising the drafts is established.