Authoritative Bodies Research Articles

Специализированные антикоррупционные органы государственной власти и должностные лица в России и зарубежных странах

The article analyzes the functioning of specially authorized public authorities and officials for the prevention of corruption in the Russian Federation, as well as in some foreign countries. The author presents the provi sions of various regulatory legal acts establishing the legal status and powers of the relevant anti-corruption bodies of state power. The article clarified the peculiarities of the activities of anti-corruption bodies and officials of a number of foreign countries, whose governments have achieved certain success in minimizing corruption risks, as well as corruption and illegal acts. At present, the question of the possibility of creating in the Russian Federation a separate state authority body with exclusive competence to combat corruption and prevent corruption in state and administrative activities continues to be debatable. The presented work has an interdisciplinary character and is written on the basis of current regulatory legal acts of various branches of law (primarily constitutional and administrative).

ПОСИЛЕННЯ РОЛІ ДЕРЖАВИ В ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ МІКРОФІНАНСУВАННЯ ЯК ФАКТОРУ СТИМУЛЮВАННЯ РОЗВИТКУ МАЛОГО ТА СЕРЕДНЬОГО ПІДПРИЄМНИЦТВА

Присвячено вивченню ролі держави в організації мікрофінансування, спрямованого на стимулювання розвитку малого i середнього підприємництва. Вивчено зарубіжний досвід використання потенціалу держави відносно регулювання економіки в контексті розширення фінансових можливостей малого i середнього підприємництва. Усі країни, що забезпечили достатній рівень фінансування малого i середнього підприємництва з боку фінансово-кредитних установ i держави, досягли цього, виключно завдяки системній участі держави в цьому процесі. В Україні темпи становлення інструменту мікрофінансування зовсім не відповідають потребам розвитку національної економіки. Усі види фінансової державної підтримки малого i середнього підприємництва, що містяться в Законі України «Про розвиток та державну підтримку малого і середнього підприємництва в Україні», мали б спиратися на систему заходів у рамках реалізації грошово-кредитної, бюджетної та фіскальної політики. Але, на жаль, практично всі вони так і залишаються незадіяними в повному обсязі, не були ґрунтовно сплановані та підкріплені всіма необхідними ресурсами. Уряд України мав би більш рішуче заохочувати розвиток мікрофінансових організацій, функціонування котрих забезпечило б підтримку малого i середнього підприємництва, пов’язаного з розвитком визначених напрямів діяльності національного господарства. Велике занепокоєння викликає деструктивна для економіки діяльність Національного банку України відносно здійснення ним грошово-кредитної політики, що призводить до нестабільності гривні, непомірних процентних ставок для представників реального сектору економіки, браку «довгих» грошей. Вищими органами публічної влади ігнорується те, що мікрофінансування забезпечує не лише динамічний розвиток малого та середнього підприємництва, а й може стати дієвим інструментом у справі боротьби з бідністю i підвищенням рівня життя малозабезпечених людей. Подолання наявного в Україні «грошового голоду» має ґрунтуватися на побудові принципово іншої моделі економічної системи, заснованої на повній суб’єктності держави у здійсненні фінансової політики, що пов’язано із заміщенням корпоративного (колоніального, олігархічного тощо) на дійсно народне управління.

The Local Aspect of Social Security – the Case of Warmia and Masuria

Social security is an element of the broadly understood state security system. A centralized approach to managing social needs does not take into account the local and regional differentiation of a population’s preferences, and, as a result, does not allocate resources in an optimal fashion. Decentralisation contributes to improving efficiency by way of more effective adaptation of public services to social needs, which is achieved by gaining a wider and deeper knowledge about the needs of local communities. Greater power of local authority bodies inspires innovative solutions and stimulates activity and competition between territorial units. It contributes to the rational allocation of resources at the disposal of local authorities, which leads to the conclusion that they are dominant with regard to exercising the social function of the state.

Legal Mechanisms for Protection of Migrants' Rights by the Public Authorities of the Russian Federation

The article analyzes methods of ensuring the migrants rights by the public authorities of the Russian Federation, the individual elements of the migration policy of the Russian Federation relating to the activities of public authorities. It considers the activities in the field of protection of the migrants rights by such authorities as the Russian President's Office for Constitutional Rights of Citizens, the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, the Council for Interethnic Relations, General Directorate for Migration, Chief Directorate for Migration Issues of Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, their normative documents, that regulate their activities. It examines separately the activities of the RF Government in the field of protection of the migrants rights, as well as judicial authorities; it identifies the special role of the RF Constitutional Court in the field of ensuring the rights of migrants, refugees, the internally displaced and stateless persons. It underlines the role of authority bodies of the RF entities in ensuring the migrants rights in terms of Irkursk Oblast. The article offers to differentiate strictly the role of each authority body in the field of migrants rights protection, as well as to pay specific attention to regulation of activities of the FR entities authority bodies in this direction.

Accessibility as a Principle of Public Authorities Functioning

The article provides a general analysis of the content and essence of the principle of accessibility as a component of the rule of law in the activities of state authorities and local self-government bodies. The author offers a general understanding of the features and peculiarities of the principle of accessibility as one of the basic theoretical principles of public services providers in accordance with European standards of public administration. The article suggests that accessibility should be considered in its two meanings. A broader understanding of the principle of accessibility implies the ability of any person to directly and unconditionally have a real access to the results of the public activity of any government authority or local self-government body under conditions determined by law. In this case, it is not even so much about specific administrative services but about the efficient functions of the governmental authority as a public institution in general. From this point of view, the principle of accessibility is a special criterion for the efficiency of the public authority’s functioning, since it aims to assess the quality of “access” of a person to the results of the activity of such an authority. Concerning a narrower understanding of the accessibility principle, this means a system of definite measures to ensure the real and physical capacity of a person to receive a public service, which involves a set of legal requirements for the organization of the public authority. Such interpretation actually contains an understanding of the principle of accessibility as a set of certain standards for the activity of the body that provides public services. It is proposed to consolidate these standards for public services providers into several blocks: informational, organizational and a block for comfort requirements. The information block includes requirements for the public disclosure of information on the competence of the public authority. For example, this imples the information on the list and the meaning of the authority’s powers in the field of administrative services; the procedures on accepting documents for consideration and general stages of their passing; the procedure for appeals, etc. The organizational unit contains a number of requirements for ensuring a person’s real access to the administrative service provider. This should include, first of all, requirements for offices where reception of citizens and initial processing of documents are carried out. The comfort block is a certain system of generalization of information and organizational units with a specific focus of the public authority’s activity on providing administrative services in the most convenient way for the applicant. The requirements of this block are based on respect for the dignity of people seeking specific administrative services or trying to get advice on a particular issue without proper formalization and formal initiation of the process of granting / receiving an administrative service. The article also presents an analysis of the trends and the development of the current legislation in the field of providing public services.

ОПТИМИЗАЦИЯ ФИНАНСОВОЙ УСТОЙЧИВОСТИ ПРЕДПРИЯТИЙ АГРАРНОГО БИЗНЕСА РЕГИОНА

The problem of increase in financial stability of the enterprises of agrarian business designated by the state priorities of stimulation of investment attractiveness of agriculture rises. It is shown that the applied measures of state support are directed only to creation of conditions on attraction to the agrarian sector of loan resources, but poorly influence increase in financial stability of producers and do not guarantee them approval of the credit application from bank. It is revealed that the main share of support of crediting is received by large agroholdings, a considerable part of farms is deprived of such means. Need of a different approach to realization of agrarian policy on increase in availability of the credit and corresponding to them budgetary resources on the basis of optimization of financial stability of agricultural enterprises is proved. On the example of the agricultural organizations of the Penza region with use of methods of financial management and the econometric analysis, diagnostics of a financial position is carried out, regularities are revealed, admissible parameters are determined and strategic solutions on optimization of financial stability of subjects of agrarian business are developed. The received results will allow to act as a methodological reference point for bodies of authority and management of agrarian and industrial complex on formation and implementation of policy of increase in financial stability and at the same time availability of means of banking capital.

Методологические основы построения системы ключевых показателей эффективности для стимулирования участников проектной деятельности в органах исполнительной власти

Objective: the scientific understanding of the individual key performance indicators function within the mechanism of stimulating the participants of project activities of executive authorities is supplemented with knowledge of the direction and impact of their actions.Methods: combination of logical and analytical deduction of theories and methodologies of stimulating the project activity participants under the stimulating influence of key performance indicators at executive authority bodies; identification of correlation dependence of the stimulated participants’ behaviour by the data of questionnaire survey of project activity experts. Results: on the basis of theoretical and methodological provisions and evidence of the stimulating effect of key performance indicators in the activity of project participants, it is proved that the effect has a complex mechanism inherent in project activities of executive authorities. It is determined that the key performance indicators serve as a means of identifying problem areas of the system of project participants’ motivation. The quantitative ratios are found of the stimulating influence of non-material and material individual key performance indicators on the project success, as well as the required working hours and the value-oriented importance of observing them. It is proposed to supplement the individual key performance indicators with an indicator that focuses the project activities towards the project success. The results show that unsystematic adoption of any key performance indicators as the main one leads to a significant deterioration of the stimulating impact of the remaining indicators on the project participants. It is revealed that the activities of the project participants are mostly (26,2 %) focused on the qualitative implementation of the project activities, and to the least degree (14,9 %) - on the observance of discipline. The most time-consuming activity (15,2 %) for the project participants is obtaining unique results. The quantitative rule is found that the maximization of the project complexity stimulation leads to the minimization of the incentives for the qualitative implementation of the project activities and the uniqueness of its results.Scientific novelty: for the first time it is determined that the key performance indicators in their economic form reflect three types of costs: conditionally constant and variable part of payment, as well as transaction costs for the purpose-orientation of the project participants.Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in research of the stimulating effect of key performance indicators on the activity of project participants and in the development of methods for building systems of key performance indicators to stimulate them in the executive authority bodies.

Modern Ways of Combating Corruption in the System of Public Authorities

The purpose of the article is to define corruption, determine its specific features and work out the methods of counteracting this negative phenomenon. Methods of combating corruption offences in the sphere of public authorities are an urgent topic for both Russian and foreign researchers. The authors analyze a number of normative legal acts that contain definitions of corruption and list its key features. They discuss effective methods of combating corruption in the work of public authority bodies. They also examine dominant views of foreign legal scholars on the typical manifestations of corruption. The authors present two methods of counteracting this negative phenomenon: prosecution of guilty persons; building a system of prevention measures that will reduce the frequency of corruption offences. The novelty of this research consists in showing the importance of improving the measures of prevention, strengthening the incentives and ensuring the optimization of restrictions to improve discipline, law and order in the work of public authorities. The article widens the understanding of the effectiveness of monitoring and other measures of counteracting corruption, including the cooperation with the institutions of civil society. The authors speak of the special importance of moral principles (honesty, integrity, etc.) in combating corruption, especially in the work of law enforcement bodies. They conclude that at present corruption counteraction in the work of public authorities is not systemic; also that it is necessary to introduce a legislative regulation of legally important procedures in the work of public authorities and increase their transparency, providing opportunities for control by other bodies of power and by the civil society. The clauses and conclusions of the article could be used in future research aimed at developing effective measures to combat corruption in the work of public authorities.

Legislation for patient information leaflets in Iran: Focus on lay-friendliness.

Background: Patient information leaflet (PIL) which accompanies medicinal products and informs patients about dosage, side effects, etc., is known as a tool which empowers patients to be more involved in making decisions related to their medications and health. In recent years, policy makers have paid much attention to PIL and its lay-friendliness i.e. being clear,explicit, and easy to read and understand. In various countries, PIL is known as a legal genre and must be prepared in understandable language. The present study aimed to situate PIL within its institutional context and investigate the importance is given to the lay-friendliness of PIL in Iran.Methods: In this observational study, official website of Food and Drug Administration of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IFDA) was consulted. Iran’s rules and regulations, legal requirements,linked to PIL production and translation were introduced and discussed in relation to lay-friendliness.. Results: Limited legislation relevant for the production and translation of lay-friendly PIL was found. The IFDA has not issued any documents or guidelines which exclusively concern lay- friendliness of PIL. Any methods which can assess lay-friendliness in original and translated PILs were not observed.Conclusion: The IFDA, the authoritative body in charge of legislation concerning PIL, has given limited importance to the language used in PIL and its lay-friendliness, witnessed by the limited legislation which is relevant for the production and translation of easy-to-understand PIL. It is not clear that how the IFDA assesses quality and lay-friendliness of original and translated PILs.

A survey of data standards for land and nutrition data

GODAN Action supports data users, producers and intermediaries to effectively engage with open data and maximise its potential for impact in the agriculture and nutrition sectors. In particular, we work to strengthen capacity, to promote common standards and best practice, and to improve how we measure impact. This report is a short accompanying document to the GODAN Action Map of Data Standards (http://vest. agrisemantics.org) which now includes two new sections dedicated to data standards relevant for the two thematic topics, which are the GODAN Action project focuses in its second year: land data and nutrition data. What we describe in detail here is the process followed to identify relevant data standards for the two new thematic topics. As we did for weather data in the first year of the project, we framed our survey of data standards around: the types of data commonly used for land and nutrition; the standardisation practices that are currently in use for these types of data (from statistical data formats to code lists and classification schemes); the corresponding authoritative bodies to which all experts look to, as well as important projects and initiatives. An initial overview of the data standards identified shows that the data formats most widely used for these types of data are the typical statistical formats (from tabular to SDMX). Indeed, malnutrition, land tenure and land use are socio-economic dimensions, mainly measured through statistics and surveys and elaborated through projections. On the other hand, the truly topic-specific data standards are the data dictionaries, code lists and the classification schemes used for each specific type of data. This explains why the majority of the data standards identified for these two thematic topics are value vocabularies, like code lists and classification schemes. However, beyond a few formalised classifications, most of the standardisation work in these areas is done through recommendations and guidelines issued by authoritative bodies. A more in-depth analysis of the data standards and standardisation gaps in the areas of land data and nutrition data is provided in our full gap exploration report (Pesce et al.; 2018).

Social order as mechanism of integrated medical and social home care funding

An introduction: In Belarus, the need for the development of integrated medical and social care is significantly increased due to the population aging, the growth of non-infectious morbidity. Beneficiaries of medical and social services are elderly lonely people over 75 and with disabilities. 14% are citizens aged 65 years and older, about 735,000 lonely and living alone, and 5.8% of the disabled. The needs of these people are covered by 2 departments: the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. Despite the good development of medical and social structures, there are some obstacles when there is a need for their simultaneous work at home. Medical workers in outpatient health organizations provide short-term medical care at home; social services provide social and household services. So needy citizens are often hospitalized not so much for medical reasons, but for social ones. One of the main providers of long-term integrated medico-social care at home is the Visiting Nurses Service of the Belarus Red Cross Society BRC VNS, which provides a range of medical care, social and household services. Description of policy context and objective: Since 2012 the state social order SSO has been introduced in Belarus as an innovative social mechanism. Its main goal is to solve socially significant problems of society through budgetary financing of topical social services/projects of social organizations regardless of the ownership form. The BRC acted as one of the initiators in the SSO promotion and implementation. About 135 SSO contracts were implemented for 4 years. Target population: The recipients of integrated medico-social care at home are single and lonely elderly citizens, people with disabilities, multiple chronic illnesses, mental disorders. The average age of the BRC VNS clients is 82.2 years; people with disabilities make up about 60%. Every year, about 1,500 people get help at home. Highlights innovation, impact and outcomes: The state social order is an innovative social technology. It is carried out on the basis of competitive selection of the contractor and on the principle of purchasing or subsidizing social services and social projects. The manager of financial resources - executive body of state management or local authority - becomes the customer of services in favor of consumers of services. Due to the SSO, the number of citizens who receive medical and social home help increases. In 2015, 516 people in need were served at home, in 2016 - more than 700 people, which is about 50% of all BRC recipients. Comments on transferability: The BRC has many years of experience and a big network of organizations which cover all regions in the country. Conclusions: The provision of integrated medico-social care at home is an alternative to hospitalization of elderly and disabled people. Involvement of NGOs such as the BRC VNS on the basis of financing from the state budget is an effective model that relieves the burden from state health and social protection institutions and allows increasing the availability of services to those in need.

Inteligentne sieci jako platforma umożliwiająca innowacyjną działalność przedsiębiorców w sektorze elektroenergetycznym - problematyka prawna

This paper is an analysis of smart grids and smart metering concept under Polish energy law. The main focus is put on the innovative potential which will become available in the electricity market once the energy system in Poland is based on smart grids and when energy consumers are billed with the use of smart metering. In the first part of the paper, the concept of a smart grid and its innovative characteristics is presented. The main emphasis is put on cooperation between businesses operating in the energy sector and those in the IT sector. This innovative approach is indirectly determined by numerous EU legislative acts which set out trends and directions of development of the energy transmission system. The second part addresses the legal requirements of implementing a smart grid concept and looks at how this issue is understood the Polish regulatory authority and others bodies of central administration responsible for the energy sector. The paper ends with an identification of potential benefits arising from the implementation of smart grids and smart metering, which include: renewable energy resources, energy efficiency, energy security and the mechanism of demand side management. All these can contribute to the development of businesses involved in the energy sector and the development of a competitive electricity market in Poland.

Forest imageries and political practice in colonial coastal Kenya

ABSTRACTThis article explores the transforming meanings of kaya forests in coastal Kenya during first half of the twentieth century. It focuses on the deployment of the kaya–indicating lowland coastal forests with a linguistic connotation of “home” – as discursive tool in the political practices of elder Mijikenda men in their interactions with the colonial state. From the mid-nineteenth- to early-twentieth century, kaya forests were assigned a variety of meanings, including as historical settlements, ancestral graveyards, and ritual sites. By the late-colonial period, the forests and forest authorities – or kaya elders – were central categories of political practice on the Kenya coast. The article argues that elder Mijikenda men and colonial officials generated novel ideas about the significance of the kaya forests as they collaborated to establish bodies of legitimate authority and demarcate lands for colonial forestry projects and development schemes. In the process, they reworked and standardized the meanings attached the forest groves which became a setting for – and symbols of – political action.

Larysa Nalyvaiko, Victor Oliinyk. Foreign experience of interaction between bodies of judicial authority and civil society institutions: problems of theory and practice

Larysa Nalyvaiko, Victor Oliinyk. Foreign experience of interaction between bodies of judicial authority and civil society institutions: problems of theory and practice

Public administration: essence and definition

The article outlines modern approaches to the concept of «public administration» and proved that the term «public» should not automatically be used instead of «state» in view of other material content. Public administration is a kind of socially useful activity carried out by a certain set of subjects, including bodies of state power, local self-government, etc. In this case, non-coercive mechanisms should be used more fully and manifest in external relations of executive authorities with other bodies of public authority, as well as by private persons.Under the influence of European integration, as a vector of Ukraine’s development, the experience of the EU countries in the management of social affairs becomes more important. In particular, scientific developments on public administration as a model of management of social affairs and the possibilities of adapting its elements in Ukrainian realities for further implementation of democratic principles of governance are updated.The article concludes that public administration is a kind of socially useful activity carried out by a certain set of subjects, including bodies of state power, local self-government, etc. In this case, non-coercive mechanisms should be used more fully (as opposed to «state administration», which is based on mechanisms of coercion of the subject of governance) and manifest in external relations of executive authorities with other public authorities as well as private persons.Public administration provides a significant increase in the efficiency of management activities due to the high level of public support and consolidation of society around common goals.

A parametric test evaluating smallholder farmers’ training needs in Uganda

PurposeEffective rural agribusiness development requires dedicated training programmes therefore, this paper is an attempt to investigate smallholder farmers’ TNs in the dairy agribusiness sector. The purpose of this paper is to study a bigger research project of the dairy value chain in agribusiness framework in the Rwenzori region.Design/methodology/approachA sample size of 100 dairy farmers were randomly selected from two Districts in the Rwenzori region. The descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) provided a basis for discussion. Furthermore, parametric Pearson coefficient test was conducted to examine the smallholder farmers’ TNs and assess its association with selected socio-demographic characteristics of the dairy farmers.FindingsThe analysis indicated that dairy farmers expressed the need for a training program. Most frequently requested topics include: fodder cultivation, quality and safe milk handling, milk marketing, calf feeding and rearing, animal nutrition and financial literacy out of 12 topics. The least desired TNs was record keeping.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings contribute to the understanding of dairy farmers’ TNs.Practical implicationsThe identified 12 key training intervention areas for the dairy farmers inform policymakers Dairy Development Authority and other development bodies in the Rwenzori region to address the challenges and improve smallholder dairy farming practices.Originality/valueThe study applies a synthesis review to identify theoretically acceptable variables that measure smallholder farmers’ TNs in the dairy agribusiness. The paper also shares the empirical evidence of a pioneering attempt to identify smallholder dairy farmers’ TNs in Uganda.

Foreign Direct Investment and Conditional Accounting Conservatism in South Asia

Research aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on conditional accounting conservatism in South Asia. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: This study uses the model developed by Basu (1997), Ball and Shivakumar (2005), and HA¤mA¤lA¤inen and Martikainen (2015) to examine the relationship between FDI and conditional accounting conservatism. Accounting data were obtained from all public listed companies other than financial companies in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka for 2006 through 2015. The ordinary least squares (OLS) method in panel regression was used. Research finding: The results indicate that a significant positive relationship exists between FDI and conditional accounting conservatism in South Asia as a whole, and the individual countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. However, FDI does not positively affect conditional accounting conservatism in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, emerging economies have more incremental conditional accounting conservatism on FDI than transitional economies. Theoretical contribution/ Originality: The model used in this study makes an important contribution to the literature, which was confirmed by sensitivity testing. The result was more sensitive for the FDI variable. Also, the study confirmed that more incremental conditional accounting conservatism can be seen when using real FDI than when using a dummy FDI. This study extends the South Asian literature on conditional accounting conservatism and fills a gap in the empirical studies on FDI and conditional accounting conservatism. Practitioner/ Policy implication: The results will be useful to policymakers and authoritative accounting bodies in the respective countries in South Asia to ensure the quality of financial reporting so as to facilitate FDI. Research limitation/ Implication: This study used the conditional accounting conservatism to measure accounting quality. However, other methods such as earnings management, value relevance etc. for measuring accounting quality could be used with FDI in future researches. Keywords: Accounting Quality, Foreign Investment, Emerging Economies, Conservatism Type of manuscript: Research paper JEL Classification: M41, F21, N40, M48

Pelvic lymph node dissection during radical cystectomy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Radical cystectomy is the gold-standard treatment option for muscle-invasive and metastatic bladder cancer. At the time of cystectomy, up to 25% of patients harbour metastatic lymph node deposits. These deposits most frequently occur in the obturator fossa, but can be as proximal as the interaortocaval region. Thus, the use of concurrent pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) with cystectomy has been increasingly reported. Data from studies including many patients suggest substantial oncological benefit in PLND cohorts versus non-PLND cohorts, irrespective of pathological nodal status. Additionally, PLND provides useful prognostic information, including disease burden, lymph node density, and extracapsular extension of metastatic lymph nodes. Accordingly, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines advocate the use of PLND during radical cystectomy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Despite this recommendation, a lack of consensus exists regarding the optimal PLND template. Comparative series suggest that extended PLND provides improved recurrence-free survival and cancer-specific survival compared with more limited PLND templates. More extensive templates (such as super-extended PLND) provide no additional survival benefit at the potential cost of increased operative time and patient morbidity. In addition to extended PLND templates, increased nodal harvest confers an oncological benefit in patients with node-positive disease or in patients with node-negative disease. Accordingly, recommendations for a minimum nodal yield have been proposed. Despite the growing body of evidence, formal recommendations by oncological and urological authoritative bodies have been limited owing to the lack of randomized data and level I evidence.

I252] Perspective on paediatric imaging diagnostic reference levels (DRLS)

Radiological imaging in children has been increasingly used over the last two decades. Children are at higher risk compared to adults due to the detrimental effects of radiation. ICRP recommended to establish paediatric DRLs, including high-dose examinations and procedures, such as CT studies and interventional radiology procedures. However, only a few European countries have established paediatric DRLs, mostly for a limited set of examinations. The existing paediatric DRLs are often adopted from old European Commission recommendations or from rarely updated surveys performed by other countries. Furthermore, the lack of a standardized methodology for establishing DRLs in children prevents the comparison among those already available.Recently, an EC project on new European Guidelines for DRLs in Paediatric Imaging (PiDRL) was awarded to a consortium lead by ESR with the involvement of ESPR, EFRS, EFOMP, and STUK. This project resulted in a series of recommendations concerning the methods to establish new DRLs in children. These recommendations include the definition of local, national, and European DRLs, the set of examinations for which DRLs should be established, grouping of children, dosimetric parameters, and instructions on how to make good use of DRLs. The PiDRL guidelines also provide a set of European DRLs (EDRLs), based on the median value of the distribution of national DRLs for a defined clinical imaging task surveyed for standardised patient groupings. These EDRLs provide an interim solution for countries without national DRLs (NDRLs), until such NDRLs become available.Future steps to be taken are the establishment and use of new EDRLs according to the PiDRL recommendations. The involvement and joint efforts of authoritative bodies, scientific societies, and stakeholders are pivotal to this aim.http://www.eurosafeimaging.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/European-Guidelines-on-DRLs-for-Paediatric-Imaging_Revised_18-July-2016_clean.pdf.

Activity of public control entities and development of distributed computing and distributed data storage systems

Introduction. This article is devoted to legal regulation of digital assets turnover, utilization possibilities of distributed computing and distributed data storage systems in activities of public authorities and entities of public control. The author notes that some national and foreign scientists who study a “blockchain” technology (distributed computing and distributed data storage systems) emphasize its usefulness in different activities. Data validation procedure of digital transactions, legal regulation of creation, issuance and turnover of digital assets need further attention.Materials and methods. The research is based on common scientific (analysis, analogy, comparing) and particular methods of cognition of legal phenomena and processes (a method of interpretation of legal rules, a technical legal method, a formal legal method and a formal logical one).Results of the study. The author conducted an analysis which resulted in finding some advantages of the use of the “blockchain” technology in the sphere of public control which are as follows: a particular validation system; data that once were entered in the system of distributed data storage cannot be erased or forged; absolute transparency of succession of actions while exercising governing powers; automatic repeat of recurring actions. The need of fivefold validation of exercising governing powers is substantiated. The author stresses that the fivefold validation shall ensure complex control over exercising of powers by the civil society, the entities of public control and the Russian Federation as a federal state holding sovereignty over its territory. The author has also conducted a brief analysis of judicial decisions concerning digital transactions.Discussion and conclusion. The use of the distributed data storage system makes it easier to exercise control due to the decrease of risks of forge, replacement or termination of data. The author suggests defining digital transaction not only as some actions with digital assets, but also as actions toward modification and addition of information about legal facts with a purpose of its establishment in the systems of distributed data storage. The author suggests using the systems of distributed data storage for independent validation of information about activities of the bodies of state authority. In the author’s opinion, application of the “blockchain” technology may result not only in the increase of efficiency of public control, but also in the creation of a new form of public control – automatic control. It is concluded there is no legislation basis for regulation of legal relations concerning distributed data storage today.