Please be informed that Federal Law No. 48-FZ “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Individual (Personified) Record Keeping in the State Pension Insurance System” and certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation dated 1 April 1 2019 affected Federal Law No. 27-FZ “On Individual (Personified) Record Keeping in the State Pension Insurance System” dated 1 April 1996 and the Labour Code of the Russian Federation.
The changes came into effect on 1 April 2019.
Article 7 of Federal Law No. 27-FZ “On Individual (Personified) Record Keeping in the State Pension Insurance System” dated 1 April 1996 is no longer in effect. In light of these changes, the green plastic SNILS cards that we are familiar with will no longer be issued to individuals who register with the state pension insurance system for individual personified record keeping. This does not mean that Russian individual insurance account numbers (SNILS) will no longer be issued. SNILS numbers are still issued and required. Moreover, Russian citizens or foreign nationals who have already been issued with SNILS plastic cards may continue using them, for example you may present the card to your new employer to complete the recruitment process. These cards will no longer be issued to individuals who register with the state pension insurance system for individual personified record keeping after 1 April 2019. They have the option to receive an extract from their individual insurance account on paper or it can be sent as an electronic document.
The changes affected Article 65 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation. The mandatory documents that each employee had to present to their new employer when signing an employment contract included a certificate of compulsory pension insurance, now however, the employee must provide a document confirming that they are registered in the state pension insurance system for individual personified record keeping instead, which may be sent as an electronic document.
If it is the employee’s first job and they have never registered for an individual insurance account number, the employer needs to submit all the necessary information to register the employee with the system for individual personified record keeping to the relevant local branch of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. Prior to the changes, the employer used to have to register the employee for SNILS to be issued.
If an employee loses his / her existing SNILS card, the employer is no longer obliged to issue a replacement for him / her.
When making any changes to the information stored by the employee’s individual insurance account number, for example if the employee changes his / her name, the employer must provide information about these changes to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation according to the usual procedure.
The Pension Fund of the Russian Federation will inform the registered person about the status of their individual insurance account and the changes that have been made to it with a notification. On the official website of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation http://www.pfrf.ru/press_center/~2019/04/04/179390 clarification is provided that the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation is going to gradually introduce notifications over a three month period for the new form of registration. The notification for the personal account will contain all the information that is on the certificate of compulsory pension insurance: the individual’s full name, date and place of birth, sex and personal account number. You will be able to receive a hard copy paper version of the notification at the Pension Fund and at any local multifunctional centre. You can access the notification at any time in electronic form by logging on to your personal account on the website of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation.
