In This Issue:

- p1 Presidential Decree Tightens Government Control Over Russian Strategic Sector Companies

- p2 ETFs Finally Come to Russia

- p2 RF Legislation Expands Government Control Over Cyberspace

- p3 Russian Authorities Reconsider Their Approach to Increasing the Charter Capital of Financially Unstable Companies

- p5 Significant Changes to Summary Proceedings in Russian Arbitrazh (Commercial) Courts Adopted

- p6 NCO’s Engaging in Political Activity to be Treated as Foreign Agents Under New Law

- p8 Draft Law to Raise Quota of Foreign Ownership in the Charter Capital of Insurance Companies

- p8 New Kazakhstan Law on Trunk Pipelines

- p10 Amendments to Kazakhstan Competition Law

- p12 U.S. Adopts New Disclosure Rules for Natural Resource Companies Designed to Fight Corruption Overseas

- p13 Legislative Update: Russia Officially Joins the World Trade Organization

- p13 Legislative Update: Updated Registration Procedure for Foreign Issuers

- p14 Legislative Update: Increasing the Efficiency of RF Labor Legislation

- p15 Recent News

- Excerpt from Presidential Decree Tightens Government Control Over Russian Strategic Sector Companies:

The President of Russia on September 11, 2012, issued a decree (the Strategic Company Decree) requiring Russian companies included in the list of strategic enterprises (Strategic Sectors Companies) to obtain government approval prior to carrying out certain actions with foreign governments/organizations. Many believe that the Strategic Company Decree was passed in response to growing pressure from the European Commission to obtain information on Gazprom in connection with a competition investigation into Gazprom’s activities in the EU, but the Strategic Company Decree will have much wider implications and will create uncertainty for companies operating in the strategic sectors in Russia.