Overview and context

Russia has a bicameral system and the Federal Assembly consists of the State Duma (Lower Chamber) and the Federation Council. Members of the Federation Council serve 4-year terms and members of the State Duma serve 5-year terms. Latest election for State Duma was held in September 2016,the next is expected for 2021. The Duma passes laws, which are then sent to the Council for confirmation and forwarded to the President for signing and publication. Federal laws have priority over regional laws and direct effect throughout the territory of Russia. Often, Russian laws are adopted in the form of a Code of Law. A Code is a complete collection of rules in an entire subject area.

Another source of law, graded lower in the hierarchy of laws, is executive regulations (decrees and directives). The President can pass decrees on any issue without limits if a valid federal law does not regulate that issue, except in cases when the Constitution directly says that the question requires the adoption of a federal law. Usually, Presidential decrees implement higher-level acts of law.

An additional group of legislation is comprised of normative acts of federal executive authorities. These acts are related to laws through directives of the government. They develop, add and consolidate existing legal norms. Although ministerial documents are acts of special jurisdiction and regulate activities of the subordinated persons and legal entities, sometimes they can be of interdepart­mental or even general significance.