On 3 February, Federal Constitutional Law No. 1-FKZ as of 31 January 2016 On Amendments to Articles 18 and 29 of the Federal Constitutional Law ‘On the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation’ and Federal Law No. 8-FZ as of 1 February 2016 On Amendments to Part 2, Article 333.36 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation signed by the President of Russia came into effect.

The passed laws exempt the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia from the filing fee upon submitting a statement of claim in defence of citizens’ rights and freedoms. The amendments have eliminated imperfection of the legal regulation and ensured equality of the High Commissioner and the prosecution authorities when carrying out human rights protection activities.

According to the current legislation, prosecutors, one of the functions of whom is to control implementation of human and civil rights and freedoms, are exempted from the filing fee when submitting their requests to first instance courts. The identical budget status and procedural powers of the prosecution and the High Commissioner upon addressing judicial bodies were put in the basis of the effective laws.