List of technologies for special investment contracts expanded to include radio electronics, chemicals, metallurgy, agriculture

MOSCOW. July 17 (Interfax) - The Russian government has expanded the list of modern technologies which companies can develop or implement under a special investment contract (SPIC) entitling them to tax benefits and other concessions, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on Thursday.

"The list will be expanded to include over 20 prospective solutions, spanning industries such as radio electronics, medicine, energy, metallurgy, chemicals, agriculture and the creation of new materials," he said.

The permission to conclude SPICs "will help these priority sectors to attract additional private investments", the government said.

A SPIC stipulates that the investor assume responsibility for the implementation of the investment project on the scale of mass industrial production, while the state ensures unchanging conditions for the project's implementation on federal and regional levels, including tax conditions. Until 2019, SPICs had a fixed term of up to ten years and did not contain strict requirements for the technologies used to implement the project. The SPIC 2.0, the updated version of the mechanism from 2020, requires that the technologies implemented are included in a government-approved list of modern technologies.

A SPIC 2.0 is concluded for a longer period of up to 15 years for projects with up to 50 billion rubles of investments and up to 20 years for projects of over 50 billion years. It also requires that participants are selected in a contest and does not stipulate a minimum investment amount.