Pepeliaev Group

Bankruptcy and Anti-Crisis protection of Business

• Anti-bankruptcy compliance; 
• When we represent clients, our support is either comprehensive or involves resolving specific business tasks assessing the legal grounds for and submitting a bankruptcy petition relating to a counterparty; 
• Often projects are not restricted to one specific country, but rather involve several jurisdictions;
• Where regulations on insolvency apply, our Bankruptcy practice provides support in the field of administrative law; 
• We provide the services jointly with lawyers of our criminal law practice.

Criminal Law Defense of Business

• Assessing criminal law risks;
• Advising on criminal law and criminal procedure law issues;
• Devising the legal position in a case, defining the strategy and tactics of further steps;
• Defending the client’s interests before law enforcement authorities;
• Challenging the acts and omissions of law enforcement officers;
• Defending the interests of the client (its managers and employees) before courts of general jurisdiction;
• Appealing against court decisions to higher courts;
• Reviewing and summarising the practice of applying criminal and criminal procedure legislation; 
• Participating in the development and discussion of legislative initiatives.

Employment and Migration Law

• Advising on a wide range of general issues of employment and migration law; 
• Advising on the optimisation and restructuring of personnel; developing and assisting in downsizing procedures and mass redundancy programmes; 
• Providing legal support for employers in settling individual and collective employment disputes; 
• Representing clients before governmental authorities; 
• Advising on all issues entailed in regularising the position of foreign employees in Russia.

Intellectual Property and Trademarks

• Mediation and settling disputes in courts; 
• Registering rights to the results of intellectual activity and means of identification with Rospatent and/or WIPO, and the Customs Intellectual Property Registry; 
• Providing legal advice; 
• Legal support in fighting piracy.

Dispute Resolution and Mediation

• Pre-trial settlement and mediation; 
• Litigation; 
• Disputes in foreign courts arbitral proceedings international commercial arbitration; 
• Legal risk management; 
• Enforcement proceedings providing legal support with respect to enforcement of court awards.

International Litigation

• Protecting clients when disputes are considered in Russian arbitral tribunals and international commercial arbitration courts in Russia as well as abroad (institutional arbitration and ad hoc arbitration); 
• Providing legal support in court proceedings in Russian and foreign state courts, and in international commercial arbitration proceedings in Russian and foreign jurisdictions, where the provisions of Russian and foreign substantive law are being applied; 
• Having awards of Russian state courts and arbitral awards made in Russia recognised and enforced in foreign jurisdictions, as well as having foreign court decisions and arbitral awards recognised and enforced in Russia; 
• Advising clients on agreeing, in contractual relationships, on dispute resolution procedures and the choice of applicable substantive law.

Personal Data

• Conducting a comprehensive audit of personal data processing; 
• Conducting a technical audit of personal data processing (a threat model, a statement of work for a PD security system, the preliminary design for a PD security system, etc.); 
• Drawing up the mandatory set of documents relating to personal data processing (regulations on personal data processing, a personal data processing policy, consents to the processing of personal data, instructions, etc.); 
• Ensuring that personal data of data subjects of different categories (applicants, employees, former employees, clients, contracting parties) is processed lawfully; 
• Selecting the optimal way to obtain consent to the processing of personal data, including advising on methods of obtaining the data subject’s written consent; 
• Conducting an audit of the company’s website in terms of whether it complies with the requirements of legislation on personal data; 
• Drafting documents relating to personal data for the company’s website (confidentiality policy, consent to the processing of personal data, cookies, consent to the disseminating of personal data, etc.); 
• Advising on how cookie-files can be processed; 
• Drafting notifications to the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (abbreviated in Russian to “Roskomnadzor”); 
• Analysing processes associated with a cross-border transfer of personal data, and assisting in ensuring compliance with the requirements of legislation on personal data; 
• Advising on issues associated with processing biometric personal data; 
• Providing support to clients in cases of leakages of personal data on a round-the-clock basis; 
• Providing support to clients within the scope of audits conducted by Roskomnadzor; 
• Analysing a company's personal data information systems, and advising on ways to meet the requirements for the localisation of databases; 
• Providing legal support when liaising with Roskomnadzor and data subjects, and drafting responses to enquiries by Roskomnadzor or data subjects; 
• Providing one-time consultations on any issues associated with the processing of personal data; 
• Preparing recommendations for the person responsible for the processing of personal data; 
• Developing and providing training on personal data for the company's staff; 
• DPO legal support on a subscription basis at favourable rates; 
• Advising on GDPR issues; 
• Legal design of documents (such as the confidentiality policy, terms of service, a public offer, etc.).

TMT

• Regulatory standards for communication activity; 
• Taxation of telecommunication companies;
• Corporate law issues; 
• Providing advice on the specifics of telecommunication companies’ activity; 
• Advising on compliance with antitrust legislation with regard to the communication sector; 
• Licensing issues; 
• Land law, real estate and construction; 
• Defending telecoms operators in court.

Real Estate Services

• Real estate transactions;
• Leases;
• Development, and construction. Investment projects;
• Mineral resource use. Oil and Gas, Environmental protection regulation;
• Representing clients in litigation, including challenging a cadastral value;
• Legislative drafting in the areas of land law, real estate, construction, mineral resource use and environmental protection.

Tax Law

Advising in the following areas: 

• Legislation on controlled foreign companies (CFCs) and deoffshorisation,
• Transfer pricing,
• Tax support in a company’s and in a group’s day-to-day operations,
• Taxation of mineral resource use,
• Administrative and judicial practice with respect to profit tax, VAT, corporate property tax, tax on securities transactions, etc.,
• International taxation,
• Taxation in the context of investment activity,
• Tax audit,
• Advising individuals on taxation issues, drafting and submitting tax returns;

Resolving disputes: 

• Providing support during field and desk tax audits as well as audits with respect to compliance with the transfer pricing rules,
• Challenging the results of field and desk tax audits,
• Settling disputes in and out of court,
• Providing support during negotiations with tax authorities with respect to entering into a settlement agreement,
• Protecting the client’s interests in disputes regarding whether a tax benefit is justified and whether the taxpayer has acted in good faith,
• Having the costs of legal representation and other court costs reimbursed,
• Participating in proceedings to have tax paid in excess reimbursed,
• Conducting cases relating to VAT refunds,
• Defending clients when the legislation on criminal liability is applied;

Tax registration of foreign companies providing electronic services to individuals and legal entities: 

• Assistance with determining whether a company is required to be registered with the Russian tax authority,
• Help with registering a foreign company with the Federal Tax Service,
• Help with calculating tax and preparing a tax return,
• Filing a VAT return with the tax authority through the taxpayer’s personal account or through the operator of an electronic document management system,
• Representing the client before the tax inspectorate, which includes preparing answers to the requests of tax authorities,
• Clarifying the effective rules of all branches of legislation with respect to foreign companies’ activities in Russia.

Currency Regulation

• Advising companies and individuals;
• Transactional due diligence to identify the risks of non-compliance with foreign currency legislation;
• Providing legal support in executing the report forms for currency transactions known as ‘transaction passports’ , accounting records and accounts for currency control purposes;
• Developing and adjusting internal currency control systems;
• Compliance;
• Providing legal support in disputes with regulatory authorities;
• Defending clients in administrative cases, including criminal cases with a foreign currency element;
• Appealing against fines.

Administrative Law defense of Business

• Advice on administrative law issues in the following areas (Technical regulation, Production of and trade in ethyl alcohol, alcoholic beverages and products containing alcohol, Regulation of trading activities, The procedure of state and municipal management and control, Banking and cash register transactions, Foreign currency regulation and control, Defending business entities against groundless consumer claims, Ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological safety of citizens, Environmental protection and management, The operation of hazardous production facilities);
• Obtaining licences and other permissions and having them reissued;
• Legislative drafting, acting as an expert and information services.

Corporate Law/ M&A

• Preparing and conducting M&A transactions,
• Due Diligence,
• Providing legal support in reorganising and restructuring of businesses and their assets,
• Analysing the efficiency and transparency of corporate management structures, developing new management and ownership models,
• Providing legal support for share issues and transactions with securities,
• Providing legal support for various aspects of business in relation to corporate legislation,
• Providing support to clients at all stages of investment projects.

Antimonopoly Regulation

• Representing clients before the FAS, the Eurasian Economic Commission and in courts, including cases on cartels and abuse of a dominant position;
• Performing antimonopoly audits and developing antimonopoly compliance systems;
• Providing support during antimonopoly audits;
• Providing advice on antitrust legislation and other issues that fall within the jurisdiction of the FAS;
• Obtaining approval for transactions and other actions with the FAS and with the Governmental Commission for Overseeing the Making of Foreign Investments in Russia;
• Having transactions with legal entities and individuals from ‘hostile’ jurisdictions approved by the subcommission of the Government Commission on Monitoring Foreign Investment;
• Holding training sessions on antitrust law compliance and other issues that fall within the FAS’s competence.

Banking and Finance

• Registration, licensing, and regulatory advice for banks and other financial institutions;
• Legal support of financial transactions;
• Working with distressed debts;
• Legal support for retail banking and financial services to private individuals;
• Taxation of financial transactions and tax disputes;
• Information security and data protection.

Customs and Foreign Trade Regulation

• Advising on the application of customs legislation and the regulation of foreign trade activity, including the rules of the WTO, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Russia;
• Providing support for projects relating to the amendment and application of rates of import customs duty, protective measures in foreign trade (including antidumping and countervailing duties), non-tariff measures and technical barriers to trade;
• Structuring transactions having regard to Russian customs and currency legislation;
• Legal support for the import of property contributions to the issued capital of companies and in the context of international finance leasing;
• Offering qualified legal assistance in settling conflicts and difficult situations that arise when dealing with Russia's customs authorities, including in relation to matters of customs value, classification under the Commodity Classification for Foreign Trade, the application of customs procedures, and administrative and criminal liability;
• Representing clients in state commercial courts and courts of general jurisdiction during appeals against decisions and acts or omissions of the customs authorities, against resolutions during administrative offence cases in the area of customs, and also against regulatory legal acts of Russia's Federal Customs Service;
• Representing clients when they appeal decisions of the Eurasian Economic Commission to the Court of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Ecology

• Reviewing the environmental protection requirements applicable to a project that is being implemented;
• Applying hygiene and public health rules and regulations;
• Advising on industrial safety;
• Working on matters connected with the processing and recycling of waste and with the payment of environmental duty by manufacturers and commodity importers;
• Support for projects taking place in specially protected natural areas;
• Resolution of disputes related to harm caused to the environment and to other issues arising from the use of natural resources (including licensing).

Life sciences

• The practice offers legal services in such areas as:
• The development of medicines, medical devices and biologically active additives (BAA);
• Clinical research and trials;
• Localising manufacturing;
• Advising on registration issues;
• Wholesale and retail;
• Advertising and working with the professional community;
• State control and supervision, interacting with consumers;
• Public procurement;
• Mergers and acquisitions of assets on the market;
• The healthcare sector.