1. Each citizen of the Russian Federation or group of citizens entitled to participate in a relevant referendum shall be entitled to form a referendum initiative group, the number of members in the group being not less than 20 persons entitled to participate in a referendum, for putting forward an initiative to hold a referendum of a subject of the Russian Federation, and not less than 10 for putting forward an initiative to hold a local referendum.

(in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ)

2. A referendum initiative group shall submit an application for registration of the group to the election commission of the relevant level that shall, as of the day of such submission, act as a referendum commission.

3. The application of a referendum initiative group shall contain the question (questions) proposed by the referendum initiative group, and indicate the surname, first name and patronymic, date and place of birth, series, number and the date of issue of the passport or an equivalent identity document of a citizen, name or code of the issuing body, and the residential address of each member of the initiative group and each person authorized to act on its behalf on the territory in which the referendum is to be held. The application of the initiative group shall be signed by all members of the said group.

4. Attached to the application shall be the minutes of the meeting of the referendum initiative group at which a decision was taken to put forward an initiative to hold a referendum.

5. Within 15 days after receipt of the application of the referendum initiative group, the commission referred to in Section 2 of this article shall consider this application and the attached documents and decide as follows: if the application and the documents meet the requirements of this Federal Law, the constitution (charter), the law of a subject of the Russian Federation, the charter of the municipality, to forward thereof to the legislative (representative) body of state power of the subject of the Russian Federation or to the representative body of municipality authorized by the constitution (charter), the law of the subject of the Russian Federation, the charter of a municipality to make a decision to call a referendum; otherwise, to refuse to register the initiative group.

(in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ)

6. The legislative (representative) body of state power of a subject of the Russian Federation or the representative body of the municipality shall make sure that the question proposed for a referendum of the subject of the Russian Federation, a local referendum meets the requirements of Article 12 of this Federal Law in accordance with a procedure and within the period established by the law of the subject of the Russian Federation, the charter of the municipality. This period shall not exceed 20 days from the day on which the application for a referendum and the attached documents were submitted to the relevant body by the referendum initiative group.

(in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ).

7. Within 5 days after an application of an initiative group to hold a referendum in a subject of the Russian Federation and attached documents are received, the legislative (representative) body of state power of the subject of the Russian Federation referred to in Section 5 of this article shall notify the President of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation of this initiative.

(in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ)

8. If the legislative (representative) body of state power or the representative body of the municipality establishes that the question to be put to a referendum meets the requirements of Article 12 of this Federal Law, the commission indicated in Section 2 of this article shall register the referendum initiative group, issue a registration certificate to the group and inform the mass media about this. A decision to register a referendum initiative group shall be taken within 15 days of the date when the legislative (representative) body of state power or the representative body of municipality indicated in Section 5 of this article establishes that the question to be put to a referendum meets the requirements of Article 12 of this Federal Law.

(in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ).

9. A registration certificate the form of which shall be approved by the election commission of a subject of the Russian Federation and which is issued to the referendum initiative group, shall be valid for the period established by the law of the subject of the Russian Federation, the charter of the municipality.

10. If a dispute arises over the competence in connection with the initiative to hold a referendum in a subject of the Russian Federation, the President of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation shall be entitled to suggest that the body which established that the question to be put to a referendum meets the requirements of Article 12 of this Federal Law form a conciliatory commission. Representatives of the referendum initiative group in a subject of the Russian Federation shall be entitled to participate in the work of the conciliatory commission. The period indicated in Section 8 of this article shall be extended for as long as the conciliatory commission is working.

11. If the legislative/representative body of governmental authority of the subject of the Russian Federation or the representative body of the municipal entity establishes that the question to be put to a referendum does not meet the requirements of Article 12 of this Federal Law, the commission indicated in Section 2 of this article shall refuse to register the referendum initiative group.

(Section 11 in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ)

12. If the registration of a referendum initiative group is refused, a decision of the relevant body indicating the reasons for the refusal shall be issued to it.

13. The reason for the refusal to register a referendum initiative group may only be a violation by the initiative group of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws, the constitution (charter), the laws of a subject of the Russian Federation, the charter of a municipality. The refusal of registration may be appealed in a court in the manner established in Article 75 of this Federal law.

(in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ)