According to Article 158 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, transactions can be entered into orally or in writing (in simple written form or notarised). In addition, a transaction that can be entered into orally is considered to be complete when it is clearly evident from the person's behaviour that they wish to enter into the transaction (in legal terminology this is known as 'implicative actions').
The contract between the user and the owner of the motor road for providing toll transit services is, by legal nature, a public contract subject to the provisions of Article 426 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. According to paragraph 4 of this article, the law can empower the Government of the Russian Federation to issue rules that are binding on the parties when entering into and performing public contracts (model contracts, regulations, etc.).
Part 1 of Article 40 of Federal Law No. 257-FZ dated 8 November 2007 'On Motor Roads and Road Activities in the Russian Federation' (the 'Law') specifies that a user shall have the right to use a toll motor road or the toll section of a motor road based on a contract made with the owner of the motor road.
Part 4 of Article 40 of the Law establishes that the Russian Federation Government approves the Rules for Providing Services to Organise the Transit of Vehicles on General-Use Toll Motor Roads of Federal Importance and Toll Sections of Such Motor Roads (the 'Rules').
These Rules were approved by Resolution No. 18 dated 19 January 2010, as amended by Government Resolution No. 667 dated 16 July 2014.
According to paragraph 4 (a) of the Rules, the methods for concluding an agreement on providing services to organise transit on a toll motor road (the implicative actions of the user) include the following:
a) Entry onto the toll motor road
b) Payment of the fee at the toll plaza
c) Payment of a travel voucher
d) Acquisition of a technical device for automatic electronic payment
Thus, a public contract for providing services to organise transit on toll motor roads shall be executed by the owner informing the motor road user of the essential terms of such a contract to the extent and in the manner prescribed by the Rules (information, tariffs and etc.) and by the user committing implicative actions that indicate the intent to enter into such a contract on the terms proposed by the owner of the motor road. The rights and obligations of the parties to such a contract (i.e., its text) upon its performance are enshrined in the mandatory Rules for Providing Services to Organise the Transit of Vehicles on General-Use Toll Motor Roads of Federal Importance and Toll Sections of such Motor Roads. The text of the Rules is publicly available and can be read by all interested parties.
The ability to enter into transactions, including transactions with citizens, by means of implicative actions is due to the specifics of the subject of such transactions resulting from the impossibility of executing separate written transactions with each consumer because of the large number of contracts and the technological features of the services provided.
The legality and validity of the procedure for entering into a public contract for providing services to organise toll transit have been confirmed by Decision of the Russian Federation Supreme Court No. AKPI18-480 dated 11 July 2018 'On the Refusal to Sustain a Request to Invalidate Paragraph 4 (a) of the Rules for Providing Services to Organise the Transit of Vehicles on General-Use Toll Motor Roads of Federal Importance and Toll Sections of Such Motor Roads Approved by Resolution of the Russian Federation Government No. 18 Dated January 19, 2010'.
In accordance with the Federal Law 'On the Russian Highways State Corporation' and Russian Government resolutions, the owner of the M-3 Ukraine, M-4 Don, and M-11 Moscow -Saint Petersburg federal motor roads is the Russian Highways State Corporation' (the 'State Company'), which acts as the fiduciary agent of the Government of the Russian Federation for these roads.
UTS LLC acts as an agent for the State Company to collect tolls subject to the agreements executed in accordance with the results of open tenders per the applicable Russian law.
All funds collected for transit on the toll road sections owned by the State Company are transferred by UTS LLC to the State Company.
In addition, UTS LLC, pursuant to the agreements executed as a result of open tenders, performs certain other services that support the maintenance of toll sections of the M-3 Ukraine, M-4 Don, and M-11 Moscow – Saint Petersburg motor roads. Read more about all the services of UTS LLC here.