"Domestic cars make up no more than 3%": Regions are asking for changes to the taxi localization law.

The independent trade union "New Labor" is collecting signatures in the regions for a petition to the president requesting changes to the law on taxi localization. The amendments in question are being prepared for a second reading: starting October 1, taxis must contain the maximum percentage of components manufactured in Russia. 

Signatures were collected today in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Previously, signature collections were held in Chita, Novosibirsk, and Barnaul. 

The Buryat regional branch of the trade union agrees with its colleagues. Nikolai Vasyutkin, head of the branch, рассказал "Regional Aspect" reported that they had collected about 300 signatures. They will then be submitted to the presidential administration. 

According to Vasyutkin, the vast majority of cars in Buryatia are Japanese or Korean. 

"Our taxi companies say that no more than 3% of our cars are domestically produced. Because the specific climate, roads, maintenance, and availability of spare parts in Siberia and the Far East contribute to our car market. Japanese cars have proven themselves over the years," the union leader explains. 

He hopes the signatures will help convey public opinion to the authorities, and that the amendments will ultimately take into account regional peculiarities not only of the car market but also of roads and low winter temperatures. Japanese cars, he adds, have proven themselves over the years in the Far East and Siberia. It will be impossible to suddenly switch fleets to domestically produced vehicles.