The concept of «conflict of interest» in the administrative law of the Russian Federation

Abstract

Introduction. The analysis of the nature, conditions and reasons for the occurrence and practice of resolving (preventing and settling) conflict of interest issues is not only an important applied, but also significant research problem. Situations related to conflict of interest issues, both in the public-state and private sectors, have given rise not only to special scientific research, but also to legislative regulation and managerial practice. A number of countries have adopted special laws on conflict of interest policy norms, established office of state commissioner for conflict of interest policy, and introduced rules regulating employee conflict of interest policy.Materials and methods. The source of the research is regulatory, theoretical, educational, scientific, journalistic works by domestic and foreign authors. The theoretical and methodological basis is the dialectical-materialistic approach to the analysis of the essence of social phenomena, the laws of their development, the features of legal regulation and the controlling effect on them. The research tools are classical: comparative legal analysis, formal logical, concrete historical and system-functional methods. The results of the study. The article presents the author’s interpretation of the of “conflict of interests” concept. Its essence is a conflict situation between public law obligations and individual’s interests, which provokes situations in which the interests of one person lead to potential or real harm to the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of others persons. Conclusion: the conflict of interests must be managed, which means that it is timely to identify, diagnose, objectively assess possible risks and negative consequences, take adequate organizational and legal measures to resolve the conflict situation. If a public servant does not serve, in accordance with his status and powers, the public and the state, but only cares about his/her own well-being, then such public employees must be dismissed from public office.Discussion and conclusion. Improving the mechanisms for identifying, qualifying, regulating the suppression and punishment of perpetrators, eliminating the negative consequences of breaching the conflict of interest policy are strategically important and rather difficult tasks that challenge not only the state, the law enforcement system and local authorities, but also business, civil society institutions and every citizen . Its solution requires systematic monitoring, comprehensive analysis, decisive and coordinated actions.