Yesterday at a government meeting, the draft federal law On Physical Culture and Sport in the Russian Federation was considered and approved.
“The law was prepared on behalf of the president,” State Secretary of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports (Rossport) Alexander Sokolov told Gazeta. “Rossport has been preparing it for more than a year and a half. The need for a new law is obvious since the current one came into force seven years ago "During this time, the country's legislation has changed, many provisions of the law on sports have come into conflict with other laws and have become impossible to enforce." The existing law was “patched up” by amendments, but recently it has become clear that this path leads to a dead end, creating more and more contradictions.
“It was impossible to pull out the old law with amendments,” Sokolov said. “The main problems were created by altered labor and budgetary relations. We started working on a radically new project. It was submitted to the government, after which it was approved by almost all subjects of the Federation, with ministries that have direct relation to the project. "
First, the new law is designed to help form a unified and understandable sports structure at all levels: federal, regional and local self-government. Secondly, to consolidate the role of public sports organizations, especially as it relates to mass sports. Thirdly, the relationship of the state with the sport of the highest achievements is seriously changing.
“Many problems related to the material and technical base have accumulated,” says Sokolov. “Its reconstruction, taking into account the fact that the Federal Target Program“ Development of Physical Culture and Sports in the Russian Federation in 2006-2015 ”began to operate this year, also required legislative reinforcements. "
The discussion of the Fetisov report was compact. Questions were asked only by Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin. Fetisov was clear and assembled, as during the game in the minority. "How do the plans for monitoring the physical condition of the population declared in the law compare with health standards and will this monitoring require additional funding?" Kudrin asked. "The provisions of the law, including monitoring of public health, are agreed at the federal level, so no additional costs will be required," Fetisov replied. "Do you invade the diocese of other departments, the Pension Fund or the Ministry of Health?" Kudrin asked. “No,” answered Fetisov. "Does the new law violate the rights of regional structures?" - "Everything is agreed with them."
The rest of the speeches of the members of the government were mostly in laudatory tones. Prime Minister Fradkov called the law necessary, and President of the Paralympic Committee Vladimir Lukin emphasized the provision of the law that will help people with disabilities - which is 10% of the country's total population - actively participate in sports.
The ministers were a little amused by the discussion of the most progressive of innovations - the "athlete's passport". In particular, his comparison with the TRP badge caused a slight grin. However, the arguments for its introduction are serious. Such a document should help the athlete to defend their social rights. By the way, an international standard of such a document does not exist, and Russia, which has lagged behind in sports legislation for a long time, can now be ahead of the rest.
Alexander Shmurnov, Kirill Yaroshevsky