commissions’ activities as well as general tendencies in socially important issues find reflection in annual Reports of the Civic Chamber on the state of civil society in the Russian Federation. The Report is usually adopted by the plenary session held in December. The Council of the Civic Chamber is a permanent body formed to tackle urgent issues relating to the Chamber’s activity. It includes President, Honorary President, Vice-Presidents, and heads of all commissions. The Civic Chamber of Russia assists the formation and development of regional Civic Chambers. Public oversight In 2008 there was implemented the Federal Law ‘On Public Oversight of Human Rights in Places of Detention and Assistance to Persons in Places of Detention’. In line with the Law the Civic Chamber coordinates the work on creation of public watchdog committees in the RF entities. Adoption of the Federal Law ‘On Basic Principles of Public Oversight in the Russian Federation’ in July 2014 became a significant milestone and recognition of the Civic Chamber performance efficiency. The Federal Law establishes the legal framework for organising and carrying out public oversight, its goals and objectives, principles and forms, as well as procedures and methods for determining and disclosing its results. The Law stipulates the right of citizens and public organisations to engage in carrying out public oversight, and sets forth subjects and objects of public oversight, their legal status, rights and responsibilities, and forms of cooperation. The Law enables Russian citizens to exercise their right to participate in managing state affairs, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 32). Public oversight is being increasingly approached as a platform for dialogue between civil society and public authorities. By encouraging search for solution to social problems public oversight provides rise of both civil activism and social responsibility. Public councils within ministries and agencies are permanent advisory and consultative bodies of public oversight. They are designed to ensure cooperation between citizens of Russia and bodies of federal, regional and local power to take into account the requirements and interests of citizens, to protect their rights and freedoms in developing and implementing state policy. Public councils are aimed at monitoring activities of federal executive authorities, including public procurement. Public councils have been established at 53 federal bodies of power (e.a. Federal Security Service, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Internal Affairs). In 2015 the Civic Chamber and Russian Governmental Expert Council introduced a