Putin signed amendments to the new tax system to Reduce Fines for Truckers Hundredfold

President Vladimir Putin has signed amendments to the new tax system, which levied fees on 12-ton trucks, reducing fines for not paying the federal road tax by up to a hundredfold, according to a document published on the government's legal information website Tuesday.

Under the new rules, truck drivers who fail to pay the tax for road use will be fined 5,000 rubles ($70) instead of the 450,000 rubles ($6,330) required previously. The fines for repeated violations of the law have been also reduced from 1,000,000 rubles ($14,000) to 10,000 rubles($170).

The Platon truck tax system, requiring drivers of 12-ton trucks to pay 1.53 rubles($0.02) per kilometer of federal road use, sparked protests among the truckers in more than 20 Russian regions.

Beginning March, 1, 2016, the fee for road use for trucks increases to 3.06 rubles($0.04) per kilometer.

The system, which has been operating in Russia since Nov. 15, has collected 1,468 billion rubles ($20 million), the federal agency tasked with building roads, Rosavtodor, said in a statement Tuesday, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.