Berg-Reglament

a legislative act of 1739, issued as a supplement and expansion of the Berg-Privilegiia. The Berg-Reglament lowered the taxation of industrialists. It required them to give the state not all, but only two-thirds of their smelted copper; they were permitted to sell the remainder freely. The assignment of state peasants to private factories was permitted under the Berg-Reglament. Industrialists were freed from the duty on food stuffs and supplies delivered to the factory. During the rule of E. Biron foreigners were granted equal privileges with Russian industrialists. The major significance of the Berg-Reglament lay in its abolition of the preferential right of the votchinniki (owners of patrimonial estates) to exploit minerals on their land and the granting of this right to those who discovered the ores first. This situation was changed in 1782. The Berg-Reglament lost its importance in 1807.