A new law concerning taxi drivers working as self-employed individuals has been adopted in Russia. The Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, announced that an initiative allowing taxi drivers to use their personal cars was approved at the plenary session.
The politician explained that a decision was made to introduce a transition period after appeals and comments from citizens. It will be seven years to bring the market to the requirements of taxi localization.
The new law introduces a regional quota for self-employed individuals whose cars do not meet the current criteria. No more than 25% of such cars from the total number of registered passenger cars at the beginning of the calendar year can be entered into the taxi register of each region — however, not everyone will be able to take advantage of this quota.
The law establishes two main conditions. Firstly, the car must belong to the driver for at least 6 months. Secondly, the owner is obliged to use it exclusively for their work, prohibiting the rental or transfer of the vehicle to other persons under lease or sublease agreements.
Amendments to federal law 580-FZ (signed in May 2025) will force, from March 1, 2026, the use in taxis only of cars with a high proportion of Russian parts — a minimum of 3200 localization points or assembled under special contracts, otherwise such cars will not be able to work through applications like "Yandex Taxi".
To avoid chaos, the authorities introduced a transition period: cars already registered before this date continue to operate under the old rules; in regions like Kaliningrad and Siberia — a delay until 2028, in the Far East and in the new territories — until 2030.
