MOSCOW, March 31 (RAPSI) – The lower house of parliament on Tuesday adopted a draft law on fines for overpricing of medicine.

Amendments are proposed to the Code on Administrative Offenses.

Drug overpricing, according to the draft law, is to result in fines from 250,000 to 500,000 rubles ($3,200 – 6,400) for officials, and twice the amount of excessively received proceeds from the sale of medicines as a result of the unlawful overstatement of state-regulated prices for the entire period during which the offense was committed, but not more than one year, for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

Earlier, President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on fixing maximum allowed prices of certain medicine during emergencies or outbreaks of infections into law. The document empowers the government to set maximum allowed prices of drugs and medical products not on the official list of vital medicines, but becoming vitally important in certain situations, for up to 90 days in case of emergencies or outbreaks of infections.