Features of Legal Regulation of the Circulation Order of Gift Certificates

Abstract

The article analyzes the novels of the legislation of the Republic of Belarus concerning the procedure for using gift certificates when selling goods (performance of works, rendering services). It has been done a comparative analysis of the legal regulation of the procedure for circulation of gift certificates in the Republic of Belarus, Ukraine and some foreign countries (Canada, the USA). The author raises some problems concerning the use of a gift certificate in civil circulation. It is pointed out that there is uncertainty both in the theory of civil law and at the level of legislative regulation regarding the civil law nature of a gift certificate. It is noted that the analysis of the legislation in force in the Republic of Belarus allows us to define a gift certificate as a document certifying the property right (requirement) of its holder (bearer) to receive goods (works, services), and the amount of money contributed when purchasing a gift certificate, as advance payment (advance payment). At the same time, such an approach of the legislator is criticized due to the fact that there is a clear contradiction to the requirements of Art. 402 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus, from the content of which it follows that the advance payment presupposes the existence of a contract in which the subject has been agreed, which is not typical of most gift certificates, due to the fact that they do not contain an indication of the subject of the contract. Having done the analysis of the civil legislation of Ukraine, the author makes a conclusion that there is application of the rules on a purchase agreement to gift certificates, the subject of which may be property rights in accordance with the Civil Code of Ukraine. The conclusion is made about the imperfection of the legal regulation of the procedure for circulation of gift certificates in the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine, as well as about the complex legal nature of the gift certificate, regarding which legal regulation should be more universal, defining a gift certificate as an independent object of civil legal relationship.