Law on Finds. The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted the amendments. How will this help diggers? Let's figure it out

Good mood to you, dear readers of our blog.

Surely, many fans of instrument search have heard in videos or read on forums advice from “knowledgeable” people that, in the event of any incomprehensible situation at the mine, you need to clearly and confidently say, “I’m just collecting scrap metal here.” But few people know that every year in our country, a dozen or two citizens are tried for illegal collection of scrap metal.

Surprised? What's wrong with that? After all, scrap metal is nobody's business. He's just lying around. Why then are people being judged? And the whole point is in a number of articles of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on ownerless things. Precisely ownerless, not ownerless or ownerless.

What is the essence of the law on finds? I think it’s best to tell with a clear example. A couple of weeks ago, one article ran across the news feeds. In Moscow, a certain pensioner, while taking out the trash, lost a stack of five-thousandth bills worth a total of 525,000 rubles near a garbage container. Well, nothing surprising, nothing at all. There are such pensioners in Moscow that they always carry half a million rubles with them.

That very moment when a person suddenly realized that tonight he could drink beer

Half an hour later, a middle-aged man walked past that same container. He saw a wad of money, picked it up, looked around, put the money in his pocket and moved on. All this action was recorded by a street video camera. Someone will think, “This man got lucky.” But, on this fact, the Moscow police opened a criminal case. Since, according to current legislation, the citizen who found the money was obliged to contact the police and report the find. Now his actions are classified as grand theft.

About the scrap metal mine. It was according to the same scheme that the diggers who were engaged in collecting scrap metal were previously tried. Since scrap metal falls under the legal concept of a find and, according to the law, a person who finds ownerless property is obliged to take measures to identify the owner or report the find to the police.

About the coin cop. The situation is the same, although judicial practice does not know a single case when a digger was tried precisely because he did not declare his finds as finds. Still, it is impossible to declare that coins found in the field are finds. Otherwise, the same scheme, it is necessary to establish that the coins have no owners. Although in this case the coins may fall under the definition of treasure. But, in general, everything is so complicated there that you can break your brain.

What now? And now, more precisely, quite recently, the State Duma of the Russian Federation, in the third final reading, adopted a number of amendments to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The essence of these amendments is that soon, finds worth up to 3,000 rubles can become the property of the citizen who found them without a court decision and waiting 6 months to find the owner.

I'll say it again. Items worth up to 3,000 rubles, found by chance, the owner of which cannot be determined, automatically become the property of the citizen who found them. And, this will no longer be considered theft with subsequent criminal liability.

True, there are some nuances. It’s not entirely clear how to calculate the cost of a particular find? For example, as with the same scrap metal. Let's say that one piece of scrap metal found is not worth 3,000 rubles, but in total it is worth more than 3,000. How to count??? Together or separately.

I think it will become clear when the law is adopted and published in its final version. Until then? For now, know that any item you find can be classified as a find. Even half a million rubles in one bundle by the trash can.