RUSSIAN UNION OF INDUSTRIALISTS AND ENTREPRENEURS

The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs /RSPP/ is an independent non-governmental organization. Its President is Alexander Nikolaevich Shokhin.

RSPP MEMBERSHIP

The Union has a membership base of over 120 regional alliances and industry associations representing key industries of the economy, including the fuel and energy industry, the machine-building industry, the investment-banking sector as well as the military industrial complex, the building industry, the chemical industry, and light and food industries. The RSPP has in its ranks more than 328 thousand members representing industrial, scientific, financial and commercial organizations and individual members in all Russian regions.

RSPP MAIN LINES OF ACTIVITY

• Initiate new bill drafts and make continuous efforts to improve the existing legislation, including such areas as taxation, debureaucratization of the economy, small and medium business development, liberalization of foreign exchange regulation and the customs policy, legal, pension, and banking reforms, science and industry, investment policies, the natural monopoly reform and the agroindustrial complex.
• Maintain regular contacts with authorities at the federal and regional level to keep them informed about the efficiency of applicable laws and to protect the interests of industrialists and entrepreneurs.
• Hold round tables, forums, conferences and public discussions on key issues of business development in Russia; participate in business clubs, associations, committees and commissions to present the views of the business community, to resolve jointly the problems of cooperation between companies and to maintain effective contacts among RSPP members, including enterprises, industry associations, and regional alliances.
• Develop regular bilateral and multilateral relations with business community organizations in other countries; provide assistance to Russian businessmen in developing their export capabilities, overcome discriminatory restrictions on export of goods and services from Russia and attract foreign investments for domestic production development.
• Coordinate, through the medium of International Council for Cooperation and Investment, efforts of Russian companies and companies with foreign capital in improving the Russian investment climate, especially in the spheres of technical regulation and licensing, customs regulation, taxation, capital markets, regional investments. Facilitate efforts of Russian companies in their investment and trade activities abroad.
• Keep the general public informed of the place and role of the Russian business in carrying out the prosperity-oriented reforms through public activities, including expositions, presentations and awards (Best Russian Enterprises, High Social Efficiency Organization) and through ongoing interaction with the mass media. RSPP

COMMITTEES, WORKING GROUPS AND COMMISSIONS

Currently, the RSPP has the following bodies in its structure:

• Committee on Budget and Fiscal Policy;
• Committee on Competition Protection and Market Regulations;
• Committee on Corporate Governance and Alternative Resolution of Disputes; 
• Committee on Energy Policy; 
• Committee on Environmental Management and Ecology; 
• Committee on Exhibition activities;
• Committee of Independent Directors; 
• Committee on Industrial Policy and Regulation of Natural Monopolies;
• Committee on International Cooperation; 
• Committee on Labour Markets and Personnel Policies; 
• Committee on Property and Development of Market Institutions;
• Committee on Public Private Partnership and Investment Policy;
• Joint RSPP/OPORA Committee on Small and Medium Business Problems;
• Committee on Social and Demographic Policies; 
• Committee on Technical Regulation, Standardization and Conformity Assessment; 
• Committee on Trade Policy and WTO;
• Working Group on Legislation on Associations of Industrialists and Employers;
• Working Group on Pension System Development; 

Sectoral strategies for improved competitiveness are addressed by:

• Commission on the Agroindustrial Complex;
• Commission on Banks and Banking Operations;
• Commission on the Building Industry;
• Commission on Chemistry and Petrochemistry;
• Commission on the Financial Industry;
• Commission on the Forestry Complex;
• Commission on Occupational Standards
• Commission on the Machine-Building Industry
• Commission on the Metallurgical and Ore Mining Complexes
• Commission on the Military-Industrial Complex
• Commission on Public Health and Medical Industry
• Commission on Telecommunications and Information Technologies
• Commission on the Textile and Light Industries
• Commission on Tourism, Hospitality and Entertainment Industry
• Commission on Trade and Services
• Commission on Transport
• Commission on Vocational Education

 The RSPP has established the Council on Exhibition Activities.

Under the auspices of the RSPP a system of administrative bodies for alternative resolution of disputes was set up. The system includes:

• The Joint Commission on Alternative Ethics under the RSPP auspices that deals with the issues relative to the actions taken by the parties within the context of their adherence to the guidelines of corporate ethics;
• The Joint Mediation Service under the RSPP auspices that handles conciliation procedures and contributes to promotion of amicable settlement of disputes;
• The Court of Arbitration under the RSPP auspices for settlement of corporate legal disputes in compliance with the Federal law “On Courts of Arbitration in the Russian Federation.”

INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS

The Union has concluded agreements on cooperation with over 70 similar business community organizations in the USA, Germany, Italy, Israel, France, China, Japan, and other countries. The Russian-American business dialogue was developed with the RSPP and the US Chamber of Commerce being directly involved, and cooperation with EU business groups is underway.

RSPP BUREAU AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Leading figures in Russian business representing core industries of the country have been elected to the membership of the Bureau of the Board of Directors and to the Board of Directors.

REGIONAL OFFICES

Regional associations of industrialists and entrepreneurs or RSPP representative offices and representatives have been set up in all 86 constituent territories of the Russian Federation. RSPP regional units protect the interests of business in the regions, including republican, regional and municipal unions of industrialists and entrepreneurs, associations, federations and other alliances of employers.