The new Federal law “On the Principles of State Regulation of Trading Activity in the Russian Federation” came into force on 1 February 2010. However, was postponed till August 1 in order to allow retail chains and suppliers reissue contracts. The Law is supposed to considerably change the rules applicable to trade activities. The Law restricts the markup of a retail chain to 10% of the price of acquired food products. This markup is prohibited for a number of socially significant food products. It also establishes deadlines for payment (10 days for produce) when concluding and implementing supply agreements. The Law bans certain conditions for supplies, such as: return of unsold goods, requirement for a supplier to undertake marketing, rendering of product promotion services by the retail chain, the requirement to disclose conditions of work with other contractors. The share of retail chains is restricted by the new Law to 25% of the food market of one region/city in order to avoid monopole situation.
Source: www.russianlawonline.com