Seeking to create its own version of Silicon Valley, the Russian government is building a new "technology incubator" zone.  In September 2010, President Dmitri Medvedev signed a new law to establish the Skolkovo Innovation Center, located 20 kilometers west of Moscow.  It will provide incentives for private companies to engage in research and development and commercial application of new technologies, focusing on information technology (IT), space research, nuclear energy, environmental protection and energy-saving. 

A special commission will consider applications for participation; over 40 companies have already submitted proposals.  The Russian authorities also plan to provide top-notch infrastructure and facilities, andthey have already allocated over $133 million to the project.

Under the new legislation, companies accepted as "members" of the Center will be entitled to a variety of special privileges, including a 10-year holiday from income, value-added, and property taxes; reimbursement of customs duties for certain imported equipment; and rights to operate under streamlined accounting and technical regulations.  There are even plans for a new court to be located in the Center that will handle intellectual property disputes, with the goal of reducing IP infringement.  From: Russian Law News.

                                                                                                                       ----- Barbara Olszowa

We are pleased to report that our print Complete Collection of the Laws of the Russian Empire (Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiˇiskoˇi Imperii), 1649, has been in significant use by our patrons.

PSZRI is the complete collection of legislation of the Russian Empire and is considered one of the most monumental collections in Russian imperial law. The collection is arranged in chronological order and should not be confused with Polnyĭ  svod zakonov Rossiĭskoĭ imperii, a 16-volume set of laws published in 1911, in which many of the laws were systematically consolidated into topical codes rather than in chronological order.

PSZRI was begun through the efforts of Emperor Nikolas I and in 1826 entrusted to the second branch of His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery. The set was published under the guidance of M. M. Speranskii, from 1839-1873.

As part of the project designed to establish the National Digital Library in Russia, NLR enriched its library by digitizing the Complete Collection of the Laws of the Russian Empire. Currently, all readers have open-access to the complete texts of the first, second and third collections.  Comments and suggestions on the use of this resource can be sent to the NLR webmaster.

This is part of one of the digitized volumes (pdf) of the Complete Law which contains beautiful illustrations of Russian crests.

                                                                                                                      ----- Basia Olszowa