Imposition of cumulative administrative penalty: technical-legal defects and law enforcement problems in the sphere of forest conservation

Abstract

The subject of this research is the social relations arising in the context of application of administrative sanctions for violating forestry legislation. The object of this research is the legislation on administrative offenses of the Russian Federation and foreign countries, law enforcement and judicial practice. The author observes the ambiguity of application of legislation on administrative offences by the state forestry departments in some constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Therefore, this scientific article indicates one of the relevant issues that stir up disputes among the law enforcement agencies – imposition of cumulative administrative penalty for violating forestry legislation. Using the universal dialectical, descriptive, and hermeneutical methods, the author analyzes the current administrative legal norms that regulate the procedure for imposition of cumulative administrative penalty. Special attention is given to the factors of ambiguity in law enforcement practice in terms of imposition of cumulative administrative penalty, which has developed due to the flaws in legal writing: 1) the absence of conceptual scientific developments dedicated to imposition of administrative penalty for cumulative administrative offenses; 2) simplified approach towards legal regulation of certain institutions of administrative responsibility that generates gaps in the legislation on administrative responsibility, which must filled in by law enforcement practice; 3) inappropriate interpretation of norms of the Article 4.4. of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offences by the law enforcement, and namely, judicial bodies. The scientific novelty consists in recommendations for improving the provisions of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses in this sphere. The conclusions are based on the formal-legal and logical methods of research.