Art. 20.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation for violation of fire safety requirements provides for significant fines - up to a million rubles, disqualification of responsible employees and suspension of the company's work. The article was last edited in 2022 (Law No. 100-FZ of May 26, 2017, Art. 2). Then legislators softened penalties for violators who violated fire safety requirements under the current special regime, and abolished some offenses that were previously contained in this article.
What requirements are discussed in Art. 20.4 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation
The fire safety of the inspected object is characterized by the ability to prevent its ignition and the development of a fire. It is also designed to minimize the negative impact of fire and smoke on property, human health, and preserve the lives of citizens.
Fire safety requirements, violation of which is punishable in accordance with Art. 20.4. Code of Administrative Offenses are quite specific. They are established by Federal Law No. 123 of July 22, 2008. This legal document contains Technical Regulations on fire safety requirements for various objects of protection:
- structures;
- buildings;
- general purpose products;
- production premises, etc.
Compliance with the requirements of these Regulations is mandatory during the construction, operation, repair, reconstruction, design, disposal and maintenance of protection facilities. For failure to comply, the violator may be subject to administrative liability.
Commentary on Article 20.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation
1. The object of an administrative offense is social relations that develop in the process of ensuring the protection of individuals, property, society and the state from fires.
2. The objective side of the offense provided for in Part 1 is expressed in violation of fire safety requirements established by standards, norms and rules.
Fire safety requirements are special conditions of a social and (or) technical nature established in order to ensure fire safety by the legislation of the Russian Federation, regulatory documents or an authorized state body. The main regulatory document regulating fire safety is the Federal Law of December 21, 1994 N 69-FZ “On Fire Safety”. Violation of fire safety requirements consists of failure to comply or improper compliance with fire safety requirements.
The provisions of the commented part 1 do not apply to cases provided for in Articles 8.32, 11.16 of this Code.
3. The objective side of part 2 consists in performing the actions provided for in part 1, but under the conditions of a special fire safety regime.
The fire safety regime should be considered the rules of behavior of people, the procedure for organizing production and (or) maintenance of premises (territories), ensuring the prevention of violations of safety requirements and extinguishing fires.
4. The objective side of part 3 is a violation of fire safety standards, norms and rules, which resulted in a fire without causing serious or moderate harm to human health or without causing other serious consequences.
The objective side of this offense provides for the presence of consequences in the form of a fire and cause-and-effect relationships between violation of fire safety standards and the occurrence of a fire.
5. The objective side of part 4 is expressed in the issuance of a certificate of conformity for products without a fire safety certificate in the event that a fire safety certificate is required.
6. The objective side of Part 5 is the sale of products or provision of services that are subject to mandatory certification in the field of fire safety, without a certificate of conformity.
It seems that it is not entirely logical to establish in this article the offenses provided for in parts 4 and 5 of the commented article. It would be logical to qualify these offenses under Article 19.19 - violation of the mandatory requirements of state standards, rules of mandatory certification. Violation of the requirements of regulatory documents to ensure the uniformity of measurements.
7. The objective side of part 6 is manifested in the unauthorized blocking of passages to buildings and structures installed for fire engines and equipment.
8. The subjects of the offense are citizens, officials, persons carrying out entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity, and legal entities.
9. From the subjective side, the offenses provided for in parts 1, 2 and 3 can be either intentional or careless; the offenses provided for in parts 4, 5 and 6 are intentional.
10. Officials of internal affairs bodies and officials of state fire supervision bodies are authorized to draw up protocols on administrative offenses.
11. Cases of administrative offenses are considered by officials of state fire supervision authorities
What threatens under Art. 20.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation for violation of fire safety requirements
The elements of offenses (under Article 20.4 of the Code), as well as the types and amounts of sanctions for their commission, are presented in the table.
| Composition of the offense | What threatens violators? |
| Violation of one or more fire safety requirements (abbreviated as TPB) – Part 1 of Art. 20.4 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. | For this, there is mainly one type of administrative punishment - a monetary fine. Its size depends on who violated the TPB:
|
| Violation of safety regulations committed under the conditions of a special fire safety regime established by the authorities - Part 2 of Art. 20.4 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. A similar regime is introduced on the basis of Art. Law No. 69-FZ (on fire safety). | Penalties under these circumstances increase:
Until 06/09/2017 for legal entities a fine under Art. 20.4 part 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation was more - from 400 to 500 thousand rubles. |
| Violation of safety regulations, resulting in damage or destruction of property as a result of a fire, or causing harm to health (mild or moderate) - Part 6 of Article 20.4 of the Code. | The punishment for this offense is also limited only to a fine, and it is not provided for individual entrepreneurs:
|
| Failure to comply with safety regulations if a person died as a result of a fire or serious harm was caused to his health - Part 6.1 of Article 20.4 of the Code. | According to this composition, administrative punishment applies only to organizations:
|
| Failure to include in the technical documentation for a product (by supplier, manufacturer) information about its fire safety parameters, or about measures for safe handling of such a product, if the availability of this information is mandatory - Part 7 of Article 20.4 of the Code. | Penalties apply to offenders:
|
| Failure by an expert to comply with the procedure for assessing a TPB object, or certifying a false expert opinion with his own signature – Part 9 of Article 20.4 of the Code. | The violating expert expects:
|
Article 20.4. Violation of fire safety requirements
(RF Code of Administrative Offences) (Article 20.4)
1. Violation of fire safety requirements, with the exception of cases provided for in Articles 8.32, 11.16 of this Code and parts 3 - 8 of this article, -
entails a warning or the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of one thousand to one thousand five hundred rubles; for officials - from six thousand to fifteen thousand rubles; for legal entities - from one hundred fifty thousand to two hundred thousand rubles.
2. The same actions committed under special fire conditions -
entail the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of two thousand to four thousand rubles; for officials - from fifteen thousand to thirty thousand rubles; for legal entities - from four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand rubles.
3. Violation of fire safety requirements for internal fire-fighting water supply, electrical installations of buildings, structures and structures, electrical products or primary fire extinguishing means, or fire safety requirements for the provision of buildings, structures and structures with primary fire extinguishing means -
entails the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of two thousand to three thousand rubles; for officials - from six thousand to fifteen thousand rubles; for persons carrying out entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity - from twenty thousand to thirty thousand rubles; for legal entities - from one hundred fifty thousand to two hundred thousand rubles.
4. Violation of fire safety requirements for evacuation routes, evacuation and emergency exits or automatic fire extinguishing systems and fire alarm systems, systems for warning people about fire and managing the evacuation of people in buildings, structures and structures or smoke protection systems for buildings, structures and structures -
entails the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of three thousand to four thousand rubles; for officials - from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand rubles; for persons carrying out entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity - from thirty thousand to forty thousand rubles; for legal entities - from one hundred fifty thousand to two hundred thousand rubles.
5. Repeated commission of an administrative offense provided for in part 3 or 4 of this article -
entails the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of four thousand to five thousand rubles; for officials - from twenty thousand to thirty thousand rubles; for persons carrying out entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity - from forty thousand to fifty thousand rubles or administrative suspension of activities for a period of up to ninety days; for legal entities - from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand rubles or administrative suspension of activities for up to ninety days.
6. Violation of fire safety requirements, resulting in a fire and destruction or damage to someone else’s property or causing slight or moderate harm to human health, -
entails the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of four thousand to five thousand rubles; for officials - from forty thousand to fifty thousand rubles; for legal entities - from three hundred fifty thousand to four hundred thousand rubles.
6.1. Violation of fire safety requirements, resulting in a fire and causing serious harm to human health or death, -
shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine on legal entities in the amount of six hundred thousand to one million rubles or administrative suspension of activities for a period of up to ninety days.
7. Failure of the manufacturer (supplier) to fulfill the obligation to include in the technical documentation for substances, materials, products and equipment information on the fire hazard indicators of these substances, materials, products and equipment or information on fire safety measures when handling them, if the provision of such information is mandatory , —
shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine on officials in the amount of fifteen thousand to twenty thousand rubles; for legal entities - from ninety thousand to one hundred thousand rubles.
8. Violation of fire safety requirements regarding the provision of passages, passages and entrances to buildings, structures and structures -
entails the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of one thousand five hundred to two thousand rubles; for officials - from seven thousand to ten thousand rubles; for legal entities - from one hundred twenty thousand to one hundred fifty thousand rubles.
Article 20.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation
