The document has been posted on the federal portal of draft regulatory legal acts for public discussion.

The draft law was prepared by the Russian Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East in terms of carrying out the instructions of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Mishustin, after his working trip to Murmansk Region. During the meeting between the Prime Minister and Arctic business circles, one of the entrepreneurs drew attention to a criterion for selecting potential residents of the Arctic zone, according to which, within the framework of the project, it is necessary to invest in real estate.

This prerequisite significantly narrows the circle of potential residents, since many companies (for example, medical ones) are ready to invest significant funds in the purchase of equipment, but not in real estate, which they prefer to rent — in particular, to set up medical centres. However, in this case, they would be deprived of the right to qualify for the resident status, and therefore of the tax benefits, state infrastructure support, and subsidized loans established by the law 'On State Support for Entrepreneurial Activity in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation'.

It is currently planned to exclude the prerequisite of capital investments in real estate for the types of SME activities determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.

When determining the volume of capital investments indicated by SMEs planning to start new enterprises in the Arctic, the costs of purchasing machinery, equipment, production and household equipment will be taken into account.

In addition, the draft law clarifies such concepts as 'investment project', 'investment' and 'capital investment'.