3.3. The content of the notice

Under the new Russian pledge registration law, the notary must enter the information contained in the notice into the registry record if it contains all the required information. The notice of a pledge must contain at least: a) the pledgor and the pledgee information (for legal persons, name, address, registration number, email address, if any, and for natural persons, surname, first name and father's name, if any - for foreign citizens in Latin characters - date of birth, passport or other official document details, place of registration and residence, insurance number, taxpayer number, if any; b) description of the pledged assets (including serial number, if any); c) reference to the basic terms of the pledge agreement <1>.

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<1> Article 103.3.

Under the Guide, the registry must accept a notice if it is in authorized medium (paper or online form), it is accompanied by the required fee and provides the grantor identifier and the other required information <1>. The minimum content of the notice includes: (a) the identifier of the grantor and the secured creditor or its representative, and their addresses; (b) a description of the asset covered by the notice that allows the reasonable identification of the encumbered assets; (c) the duration of the registration, if the law allows the registrant to select it; (d) the maximum monetary amount for which the security right may be enforced, if the State determines that that would be helpful in order to facilitate subordinate lending <2>.

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<1> Recommendation 54, subpara. (c).

<2> Recommendation 57.

So, the new Russian pledge registration law may have to deal with the question: (a) whether the description of the assets in the notice need to be generic or specific; (b) of the duration of the registration; (c) whether the maximum amount needs to be stated in the notice. In addition, the reference to the basic terms of the pledge agreement needs to be clarified. One of the ways in which the Guide protects pledgors against inappropriate use of the information in the registry record (for example, competitors of the pledgor to find out about the financial position of the pledgor) is by limiting the amount of information that needs to be included in the notice. Another way is by providing that the legal consequence of registration is priority and thus a person that has not extended credit to the pledgor, has been paid or in general makes an unauthorized or fraudulent registration does not gain anything <1>. This registration may only deprive the pledgor from the ability to use assets referred to an unauthorized or fraudulent notice as security for credit. But the Guide provides for an expedited proceeding for the pledgor to clean the record <2>. Other law (such as tort or criminal law) may foresee further penalties. The Guide also protects the pledgee from inappropriate use of the registry (for example, to obtain the list of clients of the pledgee) by providing that a search should be possible only by the pledgor name <3>.

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<1> Recommendation 76.

<2> Guide, chapter IV, paras. 20 and 106.

<3> Ibid., paras. 29 and 30.