Alexander Zhukov, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Sochi 2014 organizing committee supervisory board, has proposed amending a bill regulating the preparations and the organization of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, reports Interfax.
At a meeting of the presidential sports council dealing with Sochi 2014 Tuesday Zhukov said, “we are grateful to the State Duma deputies who initiated this bill, but we will have to make a number of significant amendments to it by the second reading or perhaps even before the State Duma starts considering it”.
Discussing the amendments that needed to be made to the bill Zhukov said, “first of all this concerns special regulations for the city planning and the expropriation of plots of land through buying them out at a market price for building Olympic facilities. The procedure stipulated by the current version of the bill somewhat exceeds the Olympic framework and will have to be adjusted”.
He said the bill is aimed at “the systemic resolution of all problems related to the preparations for and the organization of the Games. It, in particular, grants the right to enter Russia visa-free and to be exempted from migration registration formalities to members of the Olympic family, such as the athletes and officials having an Olympic ID and accreditation. It introduces a simplified procedure for granting work permits to foreigners who conclude a contract with the organizing committee. It also grants customs and tax breaks or compensations to (the) Russian National Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee, the State Corporation, and members of the sports delegations”.
He added the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) organizing committee and organizations funded by it will be subject to special taxation in Russia. Special attention will be given to the protection of the IOC’s intellectual property in light of the organization of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.
Zhukov said, “we can already now witness numerous violations, including in Sochi, and this cannot be tolerated. We see that various products are being sold and so on”.
