Berg-Kollegiia

(Collegium of Mines), the organ for the management of the mining industry in Russia.

The Berg-Kollegiia was established in 1719 on the initiative of Peter the Great. It functioned from 1719 to 1731, from 1742 to 1783, and from 1797 to 1807 and acted under the guiding principles of the Berg-Privilegiia and Berg-Reglament, as well as imperial and Senate ukases. In regions where the metallurgical industry was concentrated (the Urals and other regions), the Berg-Kollegiia and its local organs carried out such functions as the laboratory analysis of ores, the allotment of space for factories and mines; the arbitration of disputes between industrialists; the imposition of taxes on industrialists; and the assignment of state peasants at factories, as well as the granting of permission for the purchase of peasants for factories. Functions of the Berg-Kollegiia also included the consideration of complaints by industrialists, assigned peasants, and factory hands; the carrying out of punitive functions with respect to the peasants; the protection of industrialists from interference in their affairs by the local administration; the transfer of public factories to private individuals and the acquisition of private factories by the state; and the administration of state factories and organization of the sale of their products.