Business costs resulting from inspections reached almost 44 billion rubles

According to the Center for Social Security, companies face costs when employees interact with regulatory authorities. Although some flexibilities have been introduced, many inspections persist, for example, sanitary-epidemiological and fire inspections. Costs are rising as the number of such events increases, analysts said.

The increase in costs is also explained by the increase in salaries of employees whose work is suspended during inspections. Nominal salaries for 2023 increased by 14%, said Sergei Elin, director of the AIP, an expert at the Moscow branch of Opora Rossii on financial and legal security of companies. “During the period of interaction with the control body, the employee receives the same remuneration cost, but spends time not performing his direct duties, but accompanying the inspector,” the study explains.

In addition, the services of outsourced companies that help prepare for inspections are becoming more expensive, noted Sergei Zainullin, a researcher at the Center for Strategic Research at the RUDN Faculty of Economics.

The moratorium on inspections is in effect until the end of 2024; It is not yet known if it will be extended like last year. Previously, the Ministry of Economic Development proposed to completely abandon scheduled inspections and limit ourselves to preventive visits to control the quality of products and protect consumers. This should not affect organizations that are classified as high or extremely high risk, including nuclear power plants, hydropower plants and chemical plants.

In September 2024, the Attorney General’s Office and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce began unscheduled inspections of developers and manufacturers of electronic products, checking compliance with obligations arising from the subsidies received. Companies are requested to provide data on the implementation of government-funded projects in the field of civil electronics.

Also in September, Rospotrebnadzor received the right to conduct unannounced inspections if signs of violation of mandatory requirements for products subject to labeling are identified.