Federal Law No. 580-FZ «On the Organization of Passenger and Baggage Transportation by Passenger Taxi in the Russian Federation» came into force on September 1, 2023, and replaced the previous rules in effect since 2011. The main change for a taxi service owner: the ordering service became an independent market participant with its own register, obligations and liability. Previously, a «dispatch service» could formally exist as an IT intermediary. Now the law explicitly describes what it must do and what it is liable for.

This article is a brief overview of the law’s requirements as they apply to the owner of a taxi ordering service and the carriers working with it. We describe the general provisions of the federal law. Regional rules, application forms, deadlines and some requirements (for example, body color) are set by the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The law and secondary regulations are still being refined, so before making decisions, check the current requirements with the authorized body in your region, usually the ministry or department of transport. This article is not legal advice.

Three participants and three registers

The law defines three participants in passenger taxi transportation:

1. Carrier: the party that actually transports the passenger. This can be a legal entity, a sole proprietor, or an individual paying the professional income tax (self-employed).
2. Passenger taxi: the car used for the transportation.
3. Passenger taxi ordering service: the party that takes orders from passengers and passes them to carriers. This is a legal entity or a sole proprietor.

The region keeps a separate register for each participant:

Register	Who is included	What it gives
Register of carriers	Legal entities, sole proprietors, self-employed	The right to carry passengers (the equivalent of the former «permit»)
Register of passenger taxis	Cars	The right to use a specific car as a taxi
Register of passenger taxi ordering services	Legal entities and sole proprietors	The right to take and pass on orders

The registers are kept by the authorized body of the constituent entity. In many regions they are public, and any passenger or inspector can check by plate number whether a car operates legally. For an ordering service, this means checking the carrier before passing an order is not a formality but an obligation.

What a taxi ordering service must do

1. Get into the register of ordering services

To pass orders legally, the service must be included in the regional register of taxi ordering services. The application is filed with the region’s authorized body. The law provides that an ordering service must have certain technical capabilities for taking and passing orders and for interacting with the regional information system (where one has been created). Specific document requirements and the filing procedure vary by region.

If the service operates in several regions, it generally needs to be included in each region’s register. Check this.

2. Pass orders only to legal carriers

This is the key obligation. An ordering service may pass an order only to a carrier listed in the register of carriers, and only for a car included in the register of passenger taxis. Before onboarding a driver, check their status and the car’s status, then re-check regularly: register entries can be removed.

The law also makes the ordering service liable to the passenger if the order was passed to a carrier without the right to carry passengers. Check the exact wording on the nature of this liability in the current version of the law, but the point is simple: pass an order to an illegal driver, and you are liable together with them.

3. Sign contracts with carriers

The relationship between the ordering service and the carrier is formalized by a contract. This is especially important for the self-employed: an individual on the professional income tax can be included in the register of carriers only if they have a contract with a passenger taxi ordering service. In other words, the service becomes the self-employed driver’s «entry ticket» to the legal market.

4. Keep an order log

The ordering service must keep an order registration log recording details of each order: when it was taken, who it was passed to, and which car fulfilled it. The law sets a retention period for this data; check it in the current version. In practice, this means dispatch software must store the history of all orders linked to the driver and car, and let you export it on request.

5. Tell the passenger about the carrier and the car

When passing an order, the service must tell the passenger about the carrier (name or full name, register entry number), the car (make, color, plate number) and, if the passenger asks, the fare. Technically, this is done through auto-notification: a call, SMS, or a notification in the app or bot.

6. Interact with the regional information system

The law provides for regional information systems to monitor transportation. Where such a system has been created, the ordering service must send the required data to it. The data set and transfer procedure are defined by the region. If your region has not launched the system yet, follow announcements from the authorized body.

7. Give regulators access to data

The law requires giving authorized government bodies access to the ordering service’s information systems and databases in which order data is processed. The wording and procedure are in the current version of the law; ask a lawyer how this requirement applies to a service of your size.

What a carrier must do (and how the service can help)

The ordering service is not required to meet the requirements on the carrier’s behalf, but it has an interest in its drivers being legal: otherwise it cannot pass orders to them. That is why many services take on supporting drivers with these items.

Carrier requirements

• Inclusion in the region’s register of carriers. For the self-employed, only with a contract with an ordering service.
• Organizing pre-trip medical checks for drivers and pre-trip technical inspection of cars.
• Issuing trip sheets.
• Since September 1, 2024, mandatory passenger carrier insurance (OSGOP) for passenger taxis. Without a valid policy, the car should not be in the register. Check the terms and exceptions with your insurer.

Driver requirements

The law sets restrictions on who may drive a passenger taxi. The main ones include (the exact list is in the law):

• driving experience of at least three years;
• no unpaid administrative fines for traffic violations beyond the number set by law as of the day before the trip;
• no license suspension or administrative arrest for certain violations within the set period;
• no outstanding or unexpunged criminal record for certain categories of crimes;
• passing a medical examination.

A driver on shift must carry documents confirming the trip is legal: the trip sheet, proof of inclusion in the registers and others. Check the list.

Car requirements

• Inclusion in the region’s register of passenger taxis.
• A color scheme (checkered pattern) on the sides of the body.
• An orange identification light on the roof.
• A taximeter, if the fare is calculated by time and distance. With a fixed price announced in advance, the taximeter requirement may not apply; check this.
• Body color, if the constituent entity has set such a requirement.
• Information displayed in the cabin: about the carrier, fares, the supervising authority; the driver’s card.
• From 2026, requirements for localized production of cars included in the register of passenger taxis are being introduced, with transition periods and regional specifics. This is a new rule, and its application varies by region and carrier category. Be sure to check which cars can be included in the register in your region and from what date.

Dispatch software should help you meet these requirements, not get in the way: store order history, link each order to a driver and car, and automatically tell the passenger the car’s make and plate number. In UpTaxi, all of this is included in the base package. Get 30 days free.

Fines: for what and how much

Administrative liability for taxi violations is set by the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses. Amounts are revised periodically, so below are guidelines showing who is liable. Check current amounts in the effective version of the Code.

Violation	Who is liable	Guideline
Carrying passengers by passenger taxi without the right to do so (no register entry)	Driver	Fine for the driver; repeat violations may lead to stricter measures
Breach of transportation rules: no information in the cabin, no taximeter, no color scheme or roof light	Driver, official, carrier	Fines for drivers in the thousands of rubles, for officials in the tens of thousands, for legal entities more
Ordering service passing an order to a carrier without the right to carry passengers	Ordering service (official, sole proprietor, legal entity)	For legal entities, substantial amounts, up to hundreds of thousands of rubles under the current version
Failure to give the passenger information about the carrier and car	Ordering service	Fine for the sole proprietor or legal entity
No OSGOP policy	Carrier	Fine for the carrier; the car may be removed from the register
Failure to meet regional monitoring requirements (not sending data to the regional system, etc.)	Ordering service	Depends on the region and the version of the Code

Besides fines, the region has a more painful lever: removal from the register. An ordering service removed from the register may not pass orders, which means it cannot operate. Reinstatement takes time.

Checklist for a taxi ordering service owner

Go through the items. If your answer to any question is «I don’t know», that is the first thing to sort out.

Legal

• [ ] The service (legal entity or sole proprietor) is included in the regional register of taxi ordering services.
• [ ] There is a contract with every carrier; for the self-employed, the contract on which their inclusion in the register is based.
• [ ] Before onboarding a driver, entries in the register of carriers and the register of passenger taxis are checked; the check is repeated regularly.
• [ ] Carriers have valid OSGOP policies.
• [ ] It is clear who organizes pre-trip medical checks and technical inspections, and how they are documented.

Technical (software)

• [ ] The history of all orders is stored with links to the driver and car and can be exported on request.
• [ ] The passenger automatically receives the car’s make, color and plate number and the carrier’s details by call, SMS, in the app or bot.
• [ ] Fares are transparent: the price is announced in advance or calculated by taximeter, and this is recorded in the order.
• [ ] Phone calls are recorded (in case of disputes with a passenger or an inspection).
• [ ] There are reports you can use to quickly answer a regulator’s request.
• [ ] It is clear how to send data to the regional information system if it has been launched in your region.

Organizational

• [ ] Drivers know which documents they must carry and how the car must be marked.
• [ ] Someone is responsible for tracking changes to regional rules.

How dispatch software helps you comply

No software will meet the law’s requirements for you, but good software makes compliance a side effect of everyday work.

Order log. In UpTaxi, every order is saved with its date, addresses, driver, car, price and status. The manager sees this in the personal account and can export a report for any period. This is the order registration log in the sense of the law; you do not need to keep it separately.

Passenger notification. Voice and SMS auto-notification tells the customer the car’s make, color and plate number when a driver is assigned: «A blue Opel, number 323, is on its way.» The passenger sees the same in the app and in the order bot in Telegram or Max, together with the driver’s phone number. More on voice and SMS auto-notification.

Transparent price. The customer learns the price in advance based on the city’s road graph or rides by the GPS taximeter. Both options work at the same time and are recorded in the order. See price calculation.

Call recordings. Asterisk-based telephony records operators’ and drivers’ conversations with customers. If there is a dispute about what the passenger was promised, you have the recording.

Driver and car card. The software stores driver and car data; the person responsible for register compliance can conveniently keep the register entry number and check date in the card. The software does not automatically cross-check against regional registers. This is a manual procedure, and we will not claim otherwise.

Driver exchange. If an order goes to the exchange and a driver from another service fulfills it, the order data and the customer stay with your company, and the order itself is still recorded in your log. Verifying that an exchange driver is legal is the responsibility of the service they are connected to; ask a lawyer how this is formalized between services.

Self-employed drivers: what changed

Before 2023, a self-employed person could not work legally in taxi other than by renting a car from a carrier with a permit. Law 580-FZ allowed individuals on the professional income tax to obtain carrier status directly, provided they have a contract with a taxi ordering service. For a small service, this is a convenient model: a driver with their own car registers as self-employed, signs a contract with you, gets included in the register and takes orders legally.

What to keep in mind:

• the contract with the ordering service is a condition for inclusion in the register; if the contract is terminated, carrier status may be terminated;
• a self-employed carrier is responsible for medical checks, technical inspections, trip sheets and OSGOP; in practice, services help organize this centrally;
• the self-employed driver’s car must also be in the register of passenger taxis and meet the requirements (checkered pattern, roof light, color if set by the region).

Common mistakes

1. «We’re just a dispatch service; the law is about carriers.» No: an ordering service is a separate participant with its own register and its own fines.
2. Checking a driver once at onboarding. Register entries can be removed; check regularly.
3. Not telling the passenger the car’s details. This is a direct requirement of the law, and the easiest one to meet automatically.
4. Keeping order history «somewhere in the software» with no way to export it. During an inspection, you will be asked to provide the log for a period.
5. Ignoring regional rules. Body color, application forms, the regional information system: all of this is set by the region, and rules can differ between neighboring regions.

Summary

580-FZ made the taxi ordering service a full market participant with obligations: get into the register, work only with legal carriers, keep an order log, inform passengers and interact with the regional monitoring system. Most of these obligations are met automatically if your dispatch software stores history, notifies customers and provides reports.

The requirements of the law and regional regulations change; the information in this article is general. Before making decisions, check the current rules with the authorized body in your region and with a lawyer.

UpTaxi keeps the order log, automatically tells the passenger the car and driver details, records calls and gives the owner reports, all in the base package with no extra charges for modules. The first 30 days are free.

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