Draft Federal Law Research Articles

Правовое регулирование и этическое обеспечение научных исследований: взгляд через призму традиционных российских духовно-нравственных ценностей

The article attempts to consider possible directions of legal regulation and ethical support of modern scientific research, primarily biomedical research, from the standpoint of their compliance with traditional Russian spiritual and moral values. The necessity is justified on the basis of modern strategic planning documents to prepare a draft federal law (laws), which will become the basis for the formation of a corpus of legal norms that allow the development of science, research, taking into account the values, legal and ethical principles available in society. The author advocates the development of a socio-humanitarian expertise of high-risk scientific research, as well as innovations implemented on their basis in practice.

FEATURES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES CONSOLIDATION IN RUSSIAN LAW

The purpose of the research. The article deals with the problems of reflecting the concept of sustainable development in the Russian legislation. The historical aspects of the formation of this concept in international law are studied, the role of the United Nations in its promotion and development is noted. The main normative legal acts of the Russian Federation reflecting the ideas of sustainable development are considered in order to analyze the nature of the provisions contained in them and assess their effectiveness. Conclusions. The study concluded that there is no single special normative act regulating relations in this area in the Russian Federation, as well as a limited number of sources of national law, generally affecting the issues of achieving sustainable development goals and ESG-agenda implementation. At the same time, a significant role of «soft law» acts (standards, industry recommendations, codes of corporate governance, etc.), which, despite their advisory nature, are important for closing the emerging gap in legal regulation in this area, was noted. Such acts are developed, in particular, by the Bank of Russia and Rosstandart within the limits of their authority, as well as within the framework of initiatives of business associations (primarily, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs) to develop documents designed to ensure the implementation of sustainable development goals and objectives by business community members on a voluntary basis. Among the possible directions of the legislation improvement, it is proposed to get back to the development of the draft federal law «On Public Non-financial Reporting» taking into account the necessity to amend some of its provisions both in terms of the conceptual apparatus and in terms of fixing specific indicators of such reporting.

REGULATION OF LAWMAKING IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME: PROBLEMS AND WAYS TO SOLVE THEM

The author proposes a definition of the concept of lawmaking in the fight against crime as the activity of subjects of development, public discussion, examination, coordination and adoption of draft federal laws related to criminal, criminal procedural, operational investigative, penal, criminological (preventive) legislation. Considers the background and problems of legislative and subordinate regulation of lawmaking in Russia, the reasons and conditions that contributed to the growing attention of the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government to the regulation of criminal lawmaking. Analyzes the draft federal law «On Amendments to Article 8 of the Federal Law “On the Enactment of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation”», prepared on the basis of the conclusions of the interdepartmental working group formed by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in March 2023 to prepare proposals for the draft concept of criminal legal policy Russian Federation. Justifies the need to abandon the idea of consolidating special rules of criminal law legislation in the Introductory Law to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in favor of resuming work on the draft federal law “On normative legal acts in the Russian Federation” (Law on Laws).

Local self-government bodies in the process of municipal reform: trends and patterns of development

The article is devoted to the study of the development patterns of the local government system in the Russian Federation. The submission to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the draft Federal Law «On the general principles of the organization of local self-government in the unified system of public authority» in December 2021 means the preparation of a new stage of municipal reform and makes it relevant to study long-term changes in the institutional organization of local self-government. The purpose of the study is to analyze changes in the structure of local self-government bodies and the rules of their formation at each stage of the development of this institution, as well as to identify the main patterns of this process. The analysis of the legislative base regulating the structure and rules of formation of local self-government bodies has been carried out. The data related to the development of the local government system provided by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation were analyzed. It is shown that the structure of local self-government bodies has not undergone significant changes. However, there have been changes in the ways of forming local self-government bodies, which reflect the trend towards their loss of institutional independence and integration into a single system of public power. This trend appeared at the stage of implementation of the Federal Law on Local Self-Government in 2003 and was consolidated in the new Draft law on Local self-government submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 2021. It is concluded that there is a tendency to increase the dependence on federal and regional legislators of local self-government bodies. For the institute of heads of municipalities, the loss of institutional independence was clearly manifested by the introduction of the procedure for electing heads by competition, displacing both election at municipal elections and election from the Council of Deputies. The formation of representative bodies, having passed the stage of delegating deputies to higher levels, returns to the model of direct elections. However, this happens in the context of the rejection of a two-tier system of local self-government.

Вопросы развития российского законодательства о фактических брачных отношениях

This article is devoted to the analysis of the draft Federal Law No. 539969-8 submitted to the State Duma on January 30, 2024 ‘On Amendments to the Federal Law ‘On the Enactment of Part One of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation’, which provides for equating, under certain conditions, actual marital relations with a registered marriage. The conditions, procedure and individual issues arising in this regard in the civil and family relations of ‘de facto spouses’ are considered in this article.

The Issue of Using Certain Copyrighted Iems Whose Right Holders are Unknown: Foreign Experience and Solutions

Introduction. The relevance of this work is due to a significant number of works whose author or right holder is unknown, the impossibility of legally using such works in civil circulation, the urgent need for normative fixation of the status of a work whose author or right holder is unknown, and establishing opportunities for legal use of such works, taking into account the analysis of foreign practice in regulating this issue. The aim of the study is to analyse foreign practice in regulating the use of works whose author or right holder is unknown, to identify the key features of this legal institution, and to evaluate its proposed incorporation into the Russian laws. The task of the study is to analyse the legal institution of using a work whose author or right holder is unknown, and to identify common features of this legal institution in different countries. The scientific problem that the research aims to solve is to establish legal regulation for the use of works whose author or right holder is unknown, taking into account the peculiarities of the Russian laws. Methods. The work used methods of analysis such as general scientific, formal and legal, comparative and legal and system and structural. Results and Discussion. The number of works whose author or copyright holder is unknown in the largest European libraries is estimated at 20—30 %, and some estimates suggest that the proportion of such works in Russia is even higher. The works whose author or right holder is unknown are not given in international treaties of a universal character, but is reflected in some regional (Directive 2012/28/EC of the European Parliament and Council of the European Union) and national regulations of about 30 countries. The legislation of each of the countries reviewed (France, Germany, Norway, Hungary, UK, US, Canada, India, Japan, Korea) has its own peculiarities. Draft Federal Law No. 411043-8 "On Amending Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (in terms of establishing a procedure for the use of certain objects of copyright and related rights whose right holders are unknown)" establishes the concept of an object of an unknown author (right holder), and sets up a mechanism for the use of these objects, the authors (right holders) of which, if identified, will be able to receive remuneration for such use. The proposed mechanism fits seamlessly into the existing system of collective rights management, contains provisions aimed at developing this system (the possibility of using a nominal account to collect and store funds owed to other right holders) and ensuring the interests of authors (right holders) of orphan works. Conclusion. There are no unified approaches in different national legal systems with regard to almost all elements of the works whose author or right holder is unknown, at the same time, the content of applicable laws reveals common ways in the development of regulation. In the absence of a universal international regulation of this issue, each country establishes its own mechanisms to provide the possibility of using orphan works, to return such works to the cultural, scientific and educational environment, to prevent their oblivion and loss, which from time to time make it possible to re-establish contact with their creators, authors or right holders.

Совершенствование статуса руководителя судебно-экспертного учреждения в законодательстве о судебно-экспертной деятельности

The article presents proposals to the current legislation, as well as to the draft Federal Law “On Forensic expert activity” in terms of expanding the rights of the head of a forensic expert institution. The thesis is substantiated that it is necessary to give the head the status of a specialist in order to provide an opportunity to review the opinions of subordinate experts. It is also important to supplement its procedural competence with the right to apply for inclusion in the commission of experts of persons who do not work in the institution. The head should be obliged to inform the person who appointed the forensic examination of information about the expert or the commission of experts to whom it is entrusted.

Партнерское финансирование в России: проведение эксперимента по установлению специального регулирования

The article provides a comparative legal analysis of the provisions of the Federal Law “On conducting an experiment to establish special regulation in order to create the necessary conditions for implementing partnership financing activities in Certain Subjects of the Russian Federation and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” and the initial draft this law, introduced to the State Duma of the Russian Federation by a group of deputies and senators. Attention is drawn to the insufficient regulation of partnership financing relations, and it is concluded that a number of provisions of the draft federal law were more precise and definite in their content compared to the adopted federal law. When analyzing the provisions of the adopted federal law, obvious contradictions in its content, duplication, as well as systemic inconsistency of the regulatory material were revealed.

Local self-government in the Russian Federation: the trajectory of conceptual development

The article is devoted to the changes in the conceptual understanding of the institution of local self-government that has been taking place in the last three decades. The submission to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the Draft Federal Law «On the general principles of the organization of local self-government in the unified system of public authority», which took place at the end of 2021, allows analyzing the trajectory of the development of the institute of local self-government in post-Soviet Russia from the point of view of a more global time and conceptual perspective. The purpose of this work is to identify the trajectory of the development of the conception of local self-government in RF. Research attention is focused on identifying the conception of local self-government formulated in official documents, a gradual change in the conceptual interpretation of this institution. It is shown that the main shiftin the conceptual understanding of local self-government occurs along the axis of institutional independence / institutional dependence of local self-government on state authorities. The development of the conceptual understanding of local self-government in post-Soviet Russia proceeds along the trajectory from a public concept (local self-government as an independent activity) to a state one (local self-government as a form of exercising power) and to a hyperstate one (local self-government as a link in a unified system of exercising authority).

Some Aspects of the Regulatory Environment of Local Self-Government in Federal Cities

The issues of legal regulation of the organization and functioning of all government bodi es have always been the subject of numerous studies, discussions and even disputes. The rapid new reorganization of the legal foundations of the unified system of public power that started in 2020, having passed the federal and regional level of state power, "stumbled" at the level of local self-government. The draft federal law No. 40361-8 "On General Principles of Organization of Local Self-Government in the Unified System of Public Power", which was submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Fe deration on 16 December 2021, has so far remained at the level of "proposals and comments for the second reading". This allows us to focus on the analysis of problematic issues of the current situation with the legislative basis of local self-government in Russia in order to avoid and take into account in the future existing errors and shortcomings, as well as to improve the current system of legal regulation of local self-government as soon as possible. The Authors of this study attempt to analyze and draw the attention of other researchers, representatives of federal and regional legislative authorities to the existing obvious problems in the legislative regulation of local self-government in federal cities. Specific examples of the texts of the laws of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sevastopol, allow us to draw disappointing conclusions about the significant abuse by the legislators of these constituent entities of the Russian Federation of their rights to regulate certain issues of organization and functioning of local self-government in the territory of federal cities. Evidently, the existing conflicts should be eliminated as soon as possible and taken into account by the federal legislator in the formation of future legislative framework for determining the specifics of local self-government in federal cities. The current situation seriously affects the principle of direct and immediate effect of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as well as the priority of federal legislation over regional legislation on issues of joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and its constituent entities.

К вопросу об уголовно-правовых мерах борьбы с коррупцией: анализ одной законодательной инициативы

The present article is intended to raise the issue of improvement of criminal-legal measures in the field of combating corruption on the example of the draft law on strengthening criminal liability for petty bribery and petty commercial bribery. The author set the task to determine the degree of expediency of this direction of in-creasing the effectiveness of anti-corruption. Dialectical, systemic, comparative-legal, statistical, predictive methods, as well as modeling methods were used in the work. Based on the analysis of the current criminal legislation and the draft federal law on strengthening criminal liability for petty bribery and petty commercial bribery, scientific works of well-known Russian and foreign experts in the field of anti-corruption, as well as sta-tistical information, the author made reasonable conclusions about the inexpediency of adopting this law, and made specific proposals for further improvement of the relevant criminal law norms.

PROBLEMS OF LEGAL REGULATION OF PROVIDING TOURIST SERVICES IN SPECIALLY PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS

The development of tourism, including ecological tourism in specially protected natural areas, which is one of the priorities of state policy, has now been promoted by the foreign policy situation. This article analyzes the current problems of ecotourism from various points of view, both from environmentalists and from entrepreneurs. In order to settle disputes, it is necessary to finalize the draft Federal Law of the Russian Federation «On amendments to some Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in order to organize activities for the implementation of ecological tourism in specially protected natural territories».

Парламентский контроль в субъектах Российской Федерации: проблемы правового регулирования и практики реализации

Introduction. The development of the institution of parliamentary control in the Russian Federation actualizes the issues of achieving a balance of branches of government at the regional level and improving legal regulation in order to increase the effectiveness of the constitutional and legal mechanism to meet the interests and needs of residents of the respective regions. Theoretical analysis. At the present stage, there is a variety of forms of legal regulation of parliamentary control at the regional level, different legal models of its legislative regulation, characterized by certain advantages and disadvantages, are used. This determines the need to unify the conceptual and terminological apparatus of this institution, that reflects its essence and characteristic features, as well as the legislative consolidation of basic parameters, internal constitutive principles and procedures that ensure the inclusion of subjects of regional parliamentary control in the system of parliamentary control of the Russian Federation. Empirical analysis. The analysis of the legislative consolidation of procedural issues of the implementation of various forms of parliamentary control by regional parliaments indicates the conciseness of the relevant legal regulations, the planned nature of control procedures, the reproduction of the powers of the federal legislature at the regional level based on the results of verification activities with some expansion of such opportunities. The powers of a regional legislative authority based on the results of the exercised control, which are not provided for by similar norms of federal legislation on parliamentary control, can be differentiated into recommendations addressed to regional state structures, personnel decisions, initiating communications in the form of drafting a draft law of a subject of the Russian Federation, a draft federal law for its introduction by the legislative authority of a subject of the Russian Federation in the exercise of the right of legislative initiatives to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Results. The authors conclude that the legislation and practice of parliamentary control in the Russian regions need to be improved, which is aimed at detailing the legal regulation in this area and increasing effectiveness of its implementation. In this regard, the prospects for the adoption of the federal law “On general principles of parliamentary control in the subjects of the Russian Federation” are substantiated.

Legal Means of Improving Federal State Control (Supervision) in the Sphere of Migration

In an effort to counteract illegal migration and ensure the implementation of state migration policy, public authorities in many countries are making significant efforts to form a migration control system that allows for the effective implementation of strategic tasks and minimizing the associated risks and threats. Scientific and technological development has made it possible to use such tools as fingerprint registration, digital photography, face recognition systems, etc. for this purpose. The author notes the following trends in the formation of control (supervision) systems in the field of migration: focus on further active implementation of technological advances; transfer of control (supervision) measures in one volume or another to the supranational level; implementation of individual measures in transit or exit countries, etc. The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for a set of legal means to ensure the implementation of federal state control (supervision) in the field of migration; at the same time, proposals for its improvement can be identified. At the same time, the article assesses the novelties provided for in the draft federal law “On the conditions for entry (exit) and stay (residence) in the Russian Federation of foreign citizens and stateless persons” (controlled stay regime, loyalty agreement, etc. ).

Нормативно-правовое и картографо-геодезическое обеспечение изменения границ субъектов Российской Федерации

The paper analyzes international and national legal and technical acts regulating the establishment, modification and coding of territories and borders of various levels, regulating the issues of spatial reference of thematic information. UN documents, standards of the International Organization for Standardization ISO and the European Union NUTS are analyzed. The Russian legislation and by-laws on the state border, on the administrative borders of the 1st level (subjects of the Russian Federation) and the 2nd level within the subjects of the Russian Federation are considered. It is proposed to single out as a separate level 1+ territories and borders of federal districts that are not a new administrative-territorial division of the country, but participate in federal statistical observation. It is shown that the borders of the subjects of the Russian Federation are subject to changes, but the existing legislative regulation of the establishment, control and modification of the borders of the subjects of the Federation is clearly insufficient. The complexity of solving the problem of establishing, controlling and changing the borders of the subjects of the Russian Federation is illustrated by the history of the development, consideration and rejection of the draft federal law “On changing the administrative borders of the Subjects of the Russian Federation”. The procedure for establishing and changing borders, as well as issues of accuracy of geodetic and cartographic work in establishing, changing and displaying borders are considered. The shortcomings of the recommendations on geodetic support of the process of establishing the borders of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the letters of the Rosreestr are analyzed.

Зеленый майнинг криптовалюты: экономико-правовые возможности и риски

The subjects of the study are the economic and legal opportunities and risks of green mining of cryptocurrencies. The purpose of the work is to analyze the processes of organizing mining in the Russian Federation, the formation of a model of its legal regulation with an emphasis on the economic and legal possibilities of stimulating green mining, as well as the use of cryptocurrencies in cross—border operations under sanctions pressure. The conclusion is made about the need for legal regulation of cryptocurrency mining, taking into account the analysis of the draft federal law on mining, as well as the fact that one of the promising areas of Russia's economic development is the use of associated petroleum gas to generate electricity for data processing centers, the establishment of green mining in territories with preferential tax and customs regimes. It is proposed to take into account the features of white, gray and green mining when developing legislative decisions, as well as tax incentives for relevant activities.

Legal regulation of counteraction to domestic violence in Russia and Germany: comparative analysis

The subject. The article considers a study of regulation of countering domestic violence in Russia and Germany. The author investigates the draft of Russian federal law "On the prevention of domestic crimes" No. 1183390-6 and the law of Germany "On civil protection from acts of violence and persecution" as well as federal and lands’ legislation in this sphere. Purpose of the study. The comparative study aims to identify the reasons for the draft’s unviability in Russian Federation, in particular, and to search for legislative opportunities to solve the domestic crime’s problems in Russia, in general.Methodology. The article is based on the comparative legal method. Due to this method, the article describes the legal protections against domestic violence in Russia and Germany (at the level of the federation and states), the advantages and disadvantages of each system.The main results. The legal measures in Germany as well as the draft federal law in the Russian Federation contain protective measures that can be applied by police and court. The main feature of German measures from Russian ones is the possibility of temporary violator’s ejection from the occupied housing by issuing a judicial or police order. The simplicity of the procedure allows а victim to receive effective help at any time, even at night and on non-working days. The article analyses the allowability of these measures to the offender from the point of view of basic rights’ interference; notes the position of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany about the police order on temporary eviction: the residence ejection is allowable only when the measure aims at preventing criminal acts. The article draws attention to the technique’ defects of the Russian draft federal law "On the prevention of domestic crimes" No. 1183390-6, which require correction in order to improve the domestic violence’ counteraction in Russia.Сonclusions. It is concluded that in the Russian Federation it is necessary to differentiate heterogeneous phenomena in the law, such as victim’s protection from domestic violence and preventive family relationships’ measures, unreasonably mixed together in the draft federal law "On the prevention of domestic crimes" No. 1183390-6. Besides the law about victim’s protection from acts of violence and persecution should include significant consequences exactly for the violator. In this regard, the German multi-level protection system consisting of police protective measures, preliminary judicial measures as well as judicial measures can be applied. German practice makes it possible to react quickly to an act of domestic violence and provide the necessary victim’s support. The experience of applying the police order on the temporary eviction in Germany as well as violator rights’ interference may be appropriate for use in Russia.

Territorial Structure of Municipal Government at the Present Stage

The paper analyzes federal constitutional laws concerning the entry into the Russian Federation of its new constituent entities — Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions — in terms of regulating territorial organization of local self-government. The author analyzes upcoming transformations, makes and justifies proposals regarding the need to expand the system of municipalities in new constituent entitties of the Russian Federation by including settlements as its local self-government territories. The implementation of such a provision will comply with Federal Law No. 131-FZ dated 06.10.2003 «On General Principles of Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation» and will allow the population of rural and other settlements to participate more actively in local self-government.The paper describes the principles of the territorial basis of local self-government and clarifies the possibilities of their preservation in the conditions of the ongoing transformations of local self-government, due to the introduction of amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 2020. The author characterizes the procedures fixed in the legislation for ensuring changes in the boundaries of municipalities, transformation and abolition of municipalities, analyzes the norms of relevant laws of constituent entitties of the Russian Federation and municipal legal acts specifying the procedure for solving territorial issues of local self-government, illustrates the process of consolidation of municipalities on the example of the Moscow region. It is noted that in the Russian Federation there is a three-level legal regulation of the municipal-territorial structure, including federal and regional legislation and municipal legal acts. This makes it possible to determine substantive powers of public authorities in this area of local self-government and establish the procedure for their enforcement. Taking into account the results obtained, draft Federal Law No. 40361-8 «On general principles of organization of local self-government in the unified system of public authority» is analyzed in order to identify the degree of stability of the existing system of territorial organization of local self-government. The author summarizes that adoption of the enactment under consideration will not entail significant changes, its principles and will not change the procedure for resolving issues of territorial organization of municipal power.

Institutional Minimalism as a Trend in the Development of Local Self-Government in Modern Russia

The article is devoted to the analysis of the upcoming reform of local self-government initiated by amend­ments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation (2020) and the Draft Federal Law No. 40361-8 «On general principles of the organization of local self-government in a unified system of public author­ity», submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in December 2021. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze trends in the development of the institutional organization of local self-govern­ment, manifested in the context of the development of the new Draft Federal Law. It is shown that a special type of institutional organization is emerging in the sphere of domestic local self-government, which can be defined as institutional minimalism. Its main features are highlighted. It is concluded that the manifes­tations of institutional minimalism are possible only in the conditions of continuation of such trends as the strengthening state control and unification of local self-government, which previously existed, but were further strengthened in connection with the building of a unified system of public power.

Novelties of the federal legislation on municipal elections

The article examines the novelties of the draft federal law of the Russian Federation № 40361-8 On the general principles of the organization of local self-government in a unified system of public authority. In the course of the analysis, the author notes the positive changes laid down in the draft law, for example, the refusal to form a representative body of a municipality through delegation, in favor of direct elections. It is emphasized that the local level of government is the most accessible and close to the majority of the population, and the replacement of direct elections with indirect procedures, such as delegation, when forming a representative body of local self-government, leads to the alienation of local residents from solving issues of local importance. The question is raised about the validity of the introduction of a single-level system of organization of local self-government by the draft law in the context of geographical accessibility of local self-government bodies and the possibility of the population of remote territories to participate in the formation of local self-government bodies. The author predicts that such a system is difficult to adapt to the conditions of the peculiarities of population settlement in the territory of the Russian Federation. In the authors opinion, there is a negative tendency to strengthen the state vertical of power, which contradicts the democratic foundations of the state structure of the Russian Federation, enshrined in Article 12 of the Constitution.