A national (Federal) corruption fighting program must be developed in Russia. This program should include a complex of measures aimed at corruption fighting, including the following:

NEEDED IN THE LEGAL SPHERE:

1. Reduce the government functions aimed at controlling businesses, reduce the number of state municipal agencies involved in controlling and supervising businesses.
2. Ratify and implement international legal acts concerning the struggle against corruption.
3. Bring Russian laws into conformity with international anti-corruption norms.
4. Revise all existing laws and make analysis of all newly passed laws and other legal acts for "bribing capacity."
5. Abandon the principle of discretionary privileges by officials: their rights and obligations should be clearly defined in legal acts.
6. Work out a legal definition of the term "corruption" and "corrupt offences" at the level of Federal legislation.
7. Legal definition must be developed for criterion "conflict of interests" for state (municipal) officials and employees who face situations of conflicting interests while discharging their duties.
8. Set up a specialized agency to gather information on corruption and protection of the rights of entrepreneurs under the auspices of the Presidential (Parliamentary) Commission on Corruption (with offices in Russia's regions).
9. Cancel privileges for businesses involved in export-import transactions, reducing the number of articles of trade with different rates and customs duties (experience of Chile).
10. Legally establish a list of positions in the state and municipal service which are prohibited from hiring those who have been caught in corrupt actions.
11. Reduce the number of state (municipal) services provided by government power structures.
12. Stipulate a mandatory number or percentage of public contracts to be guaranteed to Russian small businesses (US experience).
13. Create regulations to reduce the time taken by authorities to process requests and applications for business people.
14. Keep records in special registers for persons (and legal entities) who, in conformity with court decisions, were subject to criminal punishments or official penalties for corrupt offenses (Singapore experience).
15. Legislate personal financial liability of state (municipal) officials and employees for damage to businesses or persons inflicted by his/her decisions.
16. Provide "witness protection" for organizations and individuals who have reported the facts of corruption to higher authorities.
17. Legislate that members of the judiciary become mandatory.
18. Reduce and simplify all kinds of accounting including:
    • Bookkeeping accounts for subjects of small businesses
    • Accounts to be submitted to the Federal Commission on Securities by emitters and of other securities.
    
    IN THE ECONOMIC SPHERE:
    
    
19. Considerable increase of salaries for public servants of all levels, with simultaneous and complete cancellation of so-called "social packets (free vacations, leisure homes, etc.)
20. Prompt privatization of state and municipal property, not essential for implementation of authorities for functions of government.
21. Broaden the framework for introducing a simplified tax system - for enterprises with employees up to 200 and/or with turnover up to 100 million rubles per year.
22. Amnesty for the capital (formerly) exported illegally abroad or hidden from taxation, on terms mutually profitable for the state and entrepreneurs.
23. Create conditions for honest work of entrepreneurs, including:
    • Simple and clear system of customs duties and tax rates;
    • Cancellation of budget immunity;
    • Prohibit state (municipal) structures to receive foods or services from entrepreneurs for performing administrative functions;
    • A ban on officials suspending business operations of entrepreneurs, except when a relevant court decision has been made with regard to an individual business.
    • Allow entrepreneurs to optimize taxation within tax legislation
24. Arrange conditions for actual refund of the VAT, paid on export operations; involvement of officials in resolving this issue must be reduced to a minimum.

IN THE SPHERE OF INFORMATION DISSEMINATION:


25. Create a system that guarantees accessibility to and openness of information on the functioning of all levels of power and their leaders, transparency of procedures regulating interaction of power and business (Swedish experience).
26. Publish annual statements of income and assets of state (municipal) employees and members of their families in electronic format and other available information resources (Mexico experience).
27. Legal guarantees of easy and free access of citizens to information on activities of state (municipal) organs, including information on spending governmental money by any public official (US, Swedish, Singapore experience).
28. Transition to modern information and managerial technologies, allowing to reduce the role of officials in decision making to a bare minimum (Singapore experience of electronic tax and customs declarations).
29. Inform all interested persons on prospective signing of state (municipal) contracts (tenders) of the results of decisions of such contracts, specifying the final price and conditions of the signed contracts.
30. Prohibit state (municipal) organs from creating and operating mass media ventures, including joint ventures with other legal bodies or individuals, except for printing organs for publishing texts of legal acts and other official materials.
31. Use public financing for educational programs aimed at generating an anti-corruption ideology across Russia.
32. Shape a positive image of entrepreneurs in Russia in the mass media.
33. Create a truly public TV with laws that provide equal access to TV viewing for various political and public organizations.