The Federal Law No. 478-FL of December 27, 2019, established a transition from January 1, 2021 to a "registry model" in licensing, aimed at cessation of the paper-form licensing. Licenses are now confirmed by entries in the relevant register. Access to the license registers is publicly available.

When required, interested parties can be provided with extracts from the registers of licenses on paper or in electronic form.

Previously made entries in the registers of licenses must be brought into compliance with this law by January 1, 2022.

In pursuance of this law, by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1693 of October 15, 2020, the amendments were made to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 957 of November 21, 2011 "On licensing of certain types of activities" and to the Rules for the provision of documents on licensing in the form of electronic documents, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 722 of July 16, 2012.

The licensees are no longer obliged to provide documents confirming the payment of the state fee for re-licensing, but they are entitled to do this on their own initiative.

Obtaining licenses, copies or duplicate licenses has been replaced with the ability to obtain extracts from license registers.

The decree will be entered into force on January 1, 2021.

In addition, by the Order of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation No. 742 of November 6, 2020, the extracts from license registers in paper form will cost 3,000 RUB from January 1, 2021.

The payment is made through the bank before submitting or simultaneously with the application for the provision of extracts to the authorized licensing bodies.

Refunds are made within one month on the basis of relevant applications indicating the bank details of the applicants or on the basis of a court decision.

Applications for the fee refund can be submitted within 3 years from the date of payment.

If the applicants refuse to receive extracts, the fee is not refundable. The fee is also not refundable in the absence of the requested information in the registers.

The subscribers of the Information and Analytical system Globas have access to the comprehensive information on 660 thousand active companies and sole entrepreneurs having active or terminated licenses, and learn about their business activities.

Information agency Credinform has prepared a ranking of the largest Russian companies of the real economy sector. The largest enterprises (TOP-10) founded before 2000 in terms of annual revenue were selected according to the data from the Statistical Register and the Federal Tax Service for the available periods (2017-2019). Then the companies were ranged by solvency ratio (Table 1). The analysis was based on the data from the Information and Analytical system Globas.

Solvency ratio (х) is calculated as a ratio of equity capital to total balance. The ratio shows the company’s dependence from external borrowings. The recommended value of the ratio is >0,5.

The ratio lower than recommended value signifies about strong dependence from external sources of funds; such dependence may lead to liquidity crisis, unstable financial position in case of contraction in business conditions.

For the most full and fair opinion about the company’s financial position the whole set of financial indicators and ratios should be taken into account.

Table 1. Net profit, revenue, solvency ratio, solvency index Globas of the oldest Russian companies (ТОP-10) in 2017-2019

Name, INN, region	Revenue, billion RUB		Net profit (loss), billion RUB.		Solvency ratio (x), >0,5		Solvency index Globas
	2018	2019	2018	2019	2018	2019
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
JSC SURGUTNEFTEGAS INN 8602060555 Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region - Yugra	1 525	1 556	828	105	0,94	0,95	173 Superior
LLC GAZPROM MEZHREGIONGAZ INN 5003021311 St.Petersburg	1 192	1 099	-2	-18	0,74	0,82	266 Medium
JSC GAZPROM INN 7736050003 Moscow	5 180	4 759	933	651	0,70	0,71	174 Superior
JSC TRADE HOUSE PEREKRESTOK INN 7728029110 Moscow	879	907	6	22	0,28	0,30	234 Strong
LLC AGROTORG INN 7825706086 St.Petersburg	1 036	1 234	10	7	0,28	0,27	238 Strong
JSC Mining and Metallurgical Company NORILSK NICKEL INN 8401005730 Krasnoyarsk region	609	878	165	515	0,19	0,27	177 High
JSC Tander INN 2310031475 Krasnodar region	1 281	1 397	23	13	0,22	0,26	240 Strong
JSC Gazprom Neft INN 5504036333 St.Petersburg	2 070	1 810	90	217	0,20	0,26	188 High
JSC ROSNEFT OIL COMPANY INN 7706107510 Moscow	6 968	6 828	461	397	0,16	0,18	197 High
Oil Transporting JSC Transneft INN 7706061801 Moscow	938	961	10	76	0,18	0,17	157 Superior
Average value for TOP-10 companies	2 168	2 143	252	198	0,39	0,42
Average value for TOP-10000 companies	63	64	7	6	0,43	0,44

growth of indicator in comparison with prior period, decline of indicator in comparison with prior period

The average value of solvency ratio for TOP-10 companies is lower than average ТОP-1000 value. In 2019, three companies show ratio above the recommended value and eight of them improved the result.

Picture 1. Solvency ratio and revenue of the oldest Russian companies (ТОP-10)

Within 6 years, the TOP-1000 average indicators of solvency ratio are below the recommended value with a growing tendency (Picture 2).

Picture 2. Change in average values of solvency ratio of the oldest Russian companies in 2014 – 2019