Since 2015, companies can be allowed to operate without a round stamp. This bill has already received the support of the State Duma in the first reading. Previously, the optionality of seals and stamps was fixed only for individual entrepreneurs.
Today the company is required to have a round seal with the full name, legal address and other details of the organization in Russian. For individual entrepreneurs, a seal is an optional attribute, but it is still widely used by entrepreneurs as a means of identification.
In the case of signing the bill, printing costs will not be included in the number of mandatory requirements for legal entities required for their successful registration. Previously, the seal was one of the confirmations of the company's trustworthiness. But this did not rule out opportunities for fraudsters. After all, the company could have been closed for a long time or be in the stage of bankruptcy, but still continued to use the old seal. At the same time, the presence of the seal did not guarantee the authenticity of the signatures of the owners of the company on the documents, which could be used in corporate conflicts.
Now you can get much more reliable and up-to-date information about the status of the company from the online register of legal entities. It contains information about the date of creation of the company, its addresses, owners and managers. In the near future, there should also be information about the presence or absence of tax debts from the company, the submission of financial statements to it.
Moreover, the active transition of companies to electronic document management makes printing an obsolete form. It is assumed that they may be replaced by electronic signatures, special letterheads or holograms, but they will be used entirely voluntarily.
Despite the fact that seals were not mandatory for use, many PIs did not abandon their use. The fact is that the presence of a seal increased their reliability in the eyes of clients, and a number of legal entities and contractors refused to work with entrepreneurs without a seal.
Companies also do not have to give up printing, they can continue to use it after the beginning of 2015. Printing is still the most accessible and familiar way of identification. Therefore, it can be expected that printing will not be out of the workflow soon enough.
