The Supreme Court clarified whether an individual’s appeal to government agencies can harm the business reputation of those against whom he complains

No business can do without administrative fines. Did you receive an unfavorable decision based on the results of the audit? - Try to appeal it.

Firstly, you can, in principle, disagree with the violations imputed to you. After all, the supervisory authority often interprets the law in favor of the budget.

Secondly, it is not forbidden to refer to your statements about mitigating circumstances (part 3 of article 4.1, article 4.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) or the insignificance of the offense (clause 21 of the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated March 24, 2005 No. 5 “On some issues arising from the courts when applying the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses"), not taken into account by the controllers. In the first case, the fine may be reduced to the minimum amount provided for in the relevant article (Part 1 of Article 4.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). In the second case, there is no fine at all - the violator will be given an oral reprimand (Article 2.9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

Finally, if your company is a small or medium-sized business, then the administrative penalty in the form of an administrative fine can be replaced with a warning (part 3 of article 1.4, part 3 of article 3.4, article 4.1.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

Contrary to popular belief, you can challenge an administrative decision not only in court. On-site inspections are carried out by territorial bodies of the relevant departments. Therefore, the company has the right to send a complaint to a higher supervisory authority - in the hope that it will mitigate the unfavorable decision. And who, if not the accountant of a small enterprise, will take care of reducing penalties? We'll tell you how to proceed.

The legislative framework

The basic rules for drawing up and the procedure for filing a complaint are set out in the Federal Law of May 2, 2006 No. 59-FZ “On the procedure for considering appeals from citizens of the Russian Federation” (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Law on Citizens’ Appeals). The requirements specified in this law apply to any complaint, no matter what authority it is submitted to.

In addition, some government agencies have established their own rules and regulations for working with citizens’ appeals, which may establish additional requirements for citizens’ applications. Thus, when applying to the prosecutor’s office, one should be guided by the Instruction on the procedure for considering applications and receiving citizens in the prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation,” approved by order of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation No. 45 of January 30, 2013. The Pension Fund of the Russian Federation also has its own operating regulations.

When drawing up the appeal itself, other regulations may be needed that regulate the violated rights of a citizen. Thus, a complaint about a low-quality product is drawn up on the basis of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights, about problems with utilities - in accordance with housing legislation, unlawful actions of banks violate banking legislation, etc.

FEATURES OF APPEAL BY AN INDIVIDUALS

Who are we writing to?

It is important to know whether the appeal is being sent to, and whether the issue is within the competence of the government body that the author of the letter has chosen as its addressee?

This is often difficult for an ordinary citizen to do. For example, if an individual wants to complain about the condition of a highway, then theoretically they can write to both the district and city administration, as well as to the municipality and even to the traffic police.

Perhaps it is better to first call all the listed institutions and try to find out who is responsible for a particular road, and then write letters.

Not a single letter has yet been delivered to “grandfather’s village.” Although, according to Federal Law No. 59-FZ, a government agency, even having received a “not its own” appeal, must redirect it to the address with mandatory notification of the sender. However, the redirection paths are so tortuous that not all letters reach the final authority.

How do we write?

There are no rules for citizens to submit an appeal to government agencies. That is, the form of writing is free. However, it is important for individual authors to know: there is no need to express yourself emotionally in the text.

The responsibilities of employees of a government agency may be distributed in such a way that the head of this institution does not even see the letter. A specialist from the office will review the letter and pass it on to the deputy head in charge of this issue. The deputy head will forward the letter to his subordinate, who will forward the letter to a specialist who will prepare a response to the appeal. Therefore, sarcastic language, witticisms, as well as any negativity towards the official personally, the situation and the entire government will be wasted.

The text of the letter should be short and information-rich, and if emotional formulations are uncontrollably rushing to the surface, then it is better to splash them out on a personal blog, and not in a letter addressed to a government agency. In this matter, it is worth focusing on the authors of letters on behalf of the organization, who know that business text is devoid of emotions.

What do we indicate in the appeal?

General requirements for the execution of a letter written by an individual are contained in Art. 7 of Federal Law No. 59-FZ (the following is optional, but it would be useful to indicate a contact phone number):

A letter from an individual can be formatted as in Example 1.

Where can I file a complaint?

The table shows government bodies that most often receive citizen complaints. For your convenience, links to online reception areas are provided; on the same sites you can find other contacts of these government agencies to contact them in person or by mail.

How to correctly write a complaint to the Central Bank of Russia about the actions of the bank?

How to write and submit a complaint to the FAS?

What is a complaint?

The right of a citizen to appeal to public authorities is one of the basic inalienable constitutional rights of a citizen. A complaint is one of the types of citizens’ appeals to government agencies, along with proposals and statements. According to Art. 4 of the Federal Law on Citizens' Appeals, a complaint is a citizen's request for restoration or protection of his violated rights, freedoms or legitimate interests or the rights, freedoms or legitimate interests of other persons.

Thus, the complaint is characterized by the following features:

• a complaint is filed when a citizen’s rights were violated, and the violator refused to restore them voluntarily, resulting in a legal dispute;

Important! According to Art. 10 of the Federal Law of December 26, 2008 No. 294-FZ “On the protection of the rights of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs in the exercise of state control (supervision) and municipal control,” government agencies do not have the right to conduct unscheduled inspections of organizations based on applications from citizens for violations of consumer rights if the citizen I did not contact the organization with a complaint in advance. The only exceptions are cases when the organization’s activities cause harm to the life and health of citizens, or there is a threat of such harm. Therefore, before complaining about an organization, you need to send a written complaint to it. How to write a claim - read our article.

• To submit an appeal, it is important to choose the right competent authority. A specific range of issues regulated by law falls under the jurisdiction of a specific government body. If the problem specified in the complaint does not fall within the competence of the government agency that received it, it forwards the appeal to another body that has the relevant competence. In order not to waste your time, it is better to correctly identify the organ to contact;
• the time frame for consideration of an appeal and response to it is strictly regulated;
• based on the circumstances set out in the complaint, an inspection of the violator’s organization is carried out, if necessary, an order is issued to eliminate the violations and a fine is imposed, and the citizen is sent a response about the measures taken;
• a complaint to government agencies in some cases can replace the consideration of a dispute in court: consideration of an administrative complaint is easier and faster for a citizen, but with its help it cannot resolve a financial dispute;
• a complaint can be not only individual, but also collective. Such a complaint will have greater weight during consideration.
• a complaint can be filed not only about the activities of commercial organizations, but also about unlawful actions or inaction of officials.

WE SUGGEST, DECLARE, COMPLAIN: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

Every organization or individual has the right to contact a government body with a proposal, application or complaint. Let's look at how these three types of requests differ from each other. Definitions are disclosed in Art. 4 of Federal Law No. 59-FZ:

Thus, if we want to achieve the installation of a pedestrian crossing sign where this crossing has existed spontaneously for many years, a proposal is drawn up.

If we want to report the inaction of the management company, which does not regulate the lighting in the entrance, we write a statement.

We resort to a complaint only if our rights are clearly violated. For example, while landscaping a yard, a car parked there was damaged, and the contractor is in no hurry to compensate for the damage.

An organization may propose to clean up a road between several closely spaced office buildings, report environmental pollution, or complain about an inspector who clearly exceeds his authority.

The categories of appeals are quite arbitrary, so the author does not need to know these nuances: the appeal will be considered in any case. But the more competently the letter is written, the greater the chances of progressing in achieving your goal: those who declare from the outset that they are familiar with the rules and know the law are always listened to more attentively and are more willing to contact them.

How to write a complaint correctly?

According to Art. 7 Federal Law on citizens' appeals, a written appeal must contain:

1. Full name of the government body to which the application is sent, if possible, full name and position of the specific official. You can also write the address of the department where the appeal is sent. This data can be found on the website of the organization of interest.
2. Full name of the applicant. It is necessary to provide reliable personal information, since anonymous complaints are not considered by government authorities.
3. The postal address of the applicant where the response to the complaint will be sent, and in the case of an electronic appeal - the email address. It is better to additionally indicate your phone number so that, if necessary, you can clarify the information. Data about the applicant and the recipient organization are filled in in the header of the document if it is drawn up on paper. If the application is sent electronically, as a rule, this data is filled out in a questionnaire.
4. The essence of the complaint. The circumstances in the complaint are stated in business language, briefly and concisely. The events that led to the violation of rights are described in chronological order. Specific dates of events, full names of employees, document details, etc. should be indicated. The requirements specified in the appeal must be justified by the law and the clauses of the contract, if any.
5. The final part lists specific requests to the government agency: to stop the crime, check compliance with sanitary and epidemiological standards, etc.
6. List of application documents. Copies of documents should be attached, and the originals should be kept with you.
7. Date and signature.

In addition, the message cannot contain obscene language, insults or threats, otherwise it may be left unanswered. In general, the appeal is drawn up in free form; there is no normatively approved template for complaints to public authorities.

It is better to print the text of the appeal, since a handwritten appeal is more difficult to read. Government officials receive a large number of complaints and will not understand the applicant’s handwriting. In this case, the application will not be considered.

When filing a collective complaint, it is necessary to provide information about all applicants, and all of them must sign the appeal. This data can be issued on a separate subscription sheet.

To correctly fill out the application, you can use our sample complaint and remake it taking into account your specific situation.

How to get an appointment at the VAO prefecture

Officials of the Prefecture of the Eastern Administrative District of Moscow are receiving visitors in accordance with the approved schedule for receiving citizens.

Prefect of the Eastern Administrative District Timofeev Vsevolod Aleksandrovich

1. Prefect of the Eastern Administrative District - Timofeev Vsevolod Aleksandrovich 1st and 3rd Monday of the month from 16:00 to 18:00 Phone: 8-499-161-12-03; Fax: 8-499-780-20-48
2. First Deputy - Yuri Dmitrievich Zakharov 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month from 16:00 to 18:00. Phone: 8-499-780-20-47; Fax: 8-499-161-98-72
3. Deputy Perfect - Kuznetsova Irina Mikhailovna 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month from 16:00 to 18:00 Phone: 8-499-161-99-29, 8-499-161-63-95; Fax: 8-499-161-63-86
4. Stulov Dmitry Yurievich 2nd and 4th Monday of the month from 17:00 to 19:00 Phone: 8-499-161-72-73, 8-499-161-97-20
5. Koval Maxim Borisovich 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month from 14:00 to 16:00 Phone 8-499-161-99-32
6. Petrosyan Emil Vladimirovich 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month from 11:00 to 13:00

You can make an appointment by calling 8-499-161-63-86 (Borscheva Elena Valentinovna). You can find out more about the reception schedule on the official website https://vao.mos.ru/ in the “Reception of citizens and organizations” section.

Art. 13 of Law No. 59 of 05/02/2016 defines the basic rules for conducting personal receptions by officials of the Eastern Administrative District:

1. The visitor must bring a passport or other identification document to the appointment.
2. Persons under the influence of alcohol or drugs are not allowed to attend.
3. The complainant can voice the complaint orally or register a pre-prepared letter. Each oral statement or complaint is subject to registration in the personal reception card.
4. Individual citizens have the right to be admitted out of turn. These categories include: disabled people of the Great Patriotic War and combat veterans, family members of military personnel, veterans of military and public service, disabled people of groups 1-3, large families, labor veterans, etc.
5. For facts that do not require verification, the answer can be given during a personal meeting. In other cases, the complaint will be processed within the time limits established by the legislation of the Russian Federation. A written response will be sent to the citizen’s postal or email address.
6. If resolving the issue is beyond the competence of the VAO prefecture, then during a personal reception the visitor will be explained where and in what order to file a complaint.

Important! Employees of the VAO prefecture have the right to refuse admission if a response to the complaint has already been given and the applicant cannot provide new documents on the case.

How to submit a complaint?

Currently, there are many ways to contact the required government agency. The possibilities of electronic filing of documents are increasingly developing. Thus, through the State Services portal you can contact almost any government agency. In addition, almost every government agency has its own website with a function for receiving requests. This method of submission is convenient because it significantly saves time and does not require direct communication with government officials.

A number of structures provide the possibility of submitting an SMS appeal. The telephone number for receiving requests can be found on the website of the relevant organization. Although this method of contact is quite fast, its complexity lies in the fact that both personal data (full name and address) and the essence of the request must be included in a small message.

There are also standard ways to file a complaint: in person and by mail.

1. To apply in person, you must first make an appointment at the appropriate department of the government agency, come at the appointed time and give a copy of the application. It is better to take a second copy of the application with you so that the government agency employee can mark receipt on it. By default, you should contact the department at your place of residence.
2. By mail, the complaint must be sent by registered mail with return receipt requested. The delivery and receipt of such a letter can be tracked, and you will have proof of delivery of the complaint. In addition, the date on the notification can be considered the period for consideration of the complaint.

Procedure and terms for consideration of a complaint

The procedure for considering complaints by public authorities is regulated by the above-mentioned Federal Law on Citizens' Appeals, according to which a written complaint, regardless of the method of filing it, is considered within 30 days from the date of registration. In exceptional cases, this period may be extended by another 30 days with mandatory notification to the applicant. Registration of an appeal usually takes from one to several business days.

Some government agencies have reduced the processing time for applications. Thus, the prosecutor’s office can consider a complaint within 15 days, and the financial ombudsman considers appeals received to him within 15 working days.

If necessary, based on the facts specified in the application, the government agency conducts an unscheduled inspection of organizations, including a personal visit, requesting documents, etc. If a violation of the law is detected, the government authority will issue an order to eliminate the violations: to terminate contracts, bring the condition of the premises into compliance with sanitary and epidemiological standards, stop using advertising materials, etc. Also, administrative or criminal proceedings may be initiated against the violator.

The decision of a government authority can be appealed to a higher government agency or to court.

FEATURES OF THE ORGANIZATION'S APPEAL

Many organizations turn to government bodies and institutions. The well-being of the organization, and sometimes its very existence, often depends on such appeals.

If a government body performs control and supervisory functions in relation to an organization, then, most likely, correspondence between them is very active, and there is no need to learn how to conduct it.

But there are other organizations - usually small ones, which practically do not intersect with the state, and resolve all their business issues with individuals and commercial enterprises. Applying to a government agency for such an organization is a whole event.

An organization can also write to a government body for image purposes, demonstrating concern for people, the city or the environment. Sometimes it is even possible to achieve something, although hardly only with the help of correspondence: without the personal participation of the first person, any business is unlikely to get off the ground, and correspondence is assigned a supporting and informational role. And this is the fundamental difference between the applicants: correspondence for an individual is the main and often the only tool to achieve the goal.