The change is governed by a law passed last May which transferred responsibility for accreditation to the Federal Tax Service - but that transfer of power was not properly transferred. Most foreign businesses are affected - except for those in the financial sector or those involved in civil aviation. Many businesses have no idea about the need to re-register - as even those businesses registering for the first time in December were not being informed of the imminent change. Daniel Klein of Moscow law firm Podolsky & Klein said: 'Some will slip through the cracks.'

Question marks

Even businesses which knew about the issue were unable to get the necessary forms until February. The Federal Tax Service had just two people behind the desk handling the applications until recently but has now added a third person. Mr Klein says that businesses missing the April 1 deadline could find it takes a long time to go through the procedure of starting a fresh registration afterwards. He says: 'If it's a big company, it won't be done in a week. It could take six months.' In the meantime, they would not be able to carry out business from Russia as big question marks would then hang over existing business contracts, visas and other contracts. Source: Moscow Times