Activities in the field of trade and consumer services as a promising object of public control in Russia: modern problems and ways of improvement (public law analysis)

Nagaitsev Viktor Valentinovich ORCID: 0000-0003-0231-8592 PhD in Sociology Head of the Department, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Territory, Barnaul, Lenin Avenue, 61 niipgergo2009@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Goncharov Vitalii Viktorovich PhD in Law Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Higher Education, Polytechnic Institute (branch), Don State Technical University in Taganrog 347900, Russia, Rostov region, Taganrog, Petrovskaya str., 109a niipgergo2009@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Petrenko Elena Gennad'evna PhD in Law Associate Professor of the Department of State and International Law, Kuban State Agrarian University named after I. T. Trubilin 350044, Russia, Krasnodar Territory, Krasnodar, Kalinina str., 13 niipgergo2009@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction.

The issues of organizing and implementing public control over promising objects of public control, including activities related to the performance of works, the provision of services, and the turnover of goods in the economy of the Russian Federation, are widely studied in the works of L. V. Bezzubko, ^{[1, pp. 64-67]} A. A. Berndt, ^{[2, pp. 25-29]} L. A. Spector, ^{[4, pp. 186-188]} V. V. Gryba, ^{[10, pp. 154-160]} A. O. Dernova, ^{[12, pp. 128-136]} A. A. Kulzhabekova, ^{[13, pp. 21-26]} I. A. Moroz, ^{[14, pp. 105-107]} M. O. Pashigoreva, ^{[15, pp. 19-26]} A. L. Petelina, ^{[16, pp. 59-63]} V. Y. Pripoten, ^{[17, pp. 122-128]} M. V. Safronova, ^{[18, pp. 28-31]} M. N. Severinova, ^{[19, pp. 30-36]} A. A. Uvarova, ^{[20, pp. 75-81]} as well as a number of other authors. At the same time, the works of A.V. Cheshin, ^{[8, pp. 196-200]} N. A. Demura, ^{[11, pp. 22-30]} B. Han, ^{[21, pp. 183-185]} related to the use of modern digital technologies in the organization and activities of subjects of public control, allowing to expand the range of objects of public control, as well as to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of implemented public control measures.

In this regard, the purpose of this scientific research is to formalize and analyze the main problems associated with the organization and implementation of public control over activities in the field of trade and consumer services, as well as the development and justification of a system of measures to resolve these problems. The main scientific objectives of the study are, in particular, the following: a) analysis of the place and role of the institute of public control in the Russian Federation in the system of legal guarantees of the constitutional principles of democracy and participation of Russian citizens in the management of state affairs; b) formalization of the list of the main problems of the organization and activities of this institution of civil society (first of all, the lack of in the legislation of the list of objects of public control); c) justification of the need to include activities in the field of trade and consumer services in the list of objects of public control; d) formalization and analysis of the main problems hindering the organization and implementation of public control in relation to the above-mentioned type of activity; e) development and justification of a system of measures to resolve these problems.

The object of the study is public relations related to the organization and functioning of the institute of public control. The empirical basis of the research was, in particular: the norms of current legislation on public control, as well as legislation regulating the sphere of trade and consumer services; works by scientists devoted to the analysis of modern problems in the field of organization and functioning of public control; materials of practical activities of subjects of public control in the Russian Federation.

Research methods and methodology.

In this article, a number of scientific research methods are used: formal-logical; comparative-legal; historical-legal; sociological; analysis of specific legal situations.

The main text.

The Russian Constitution of 1993 consolidated the legal status of the multinational people of Russia as the bearer of sovereignty and the only source of power in the state, exercising its powers both directly (for example, through the institutions of free elections and referendums) and indirectly (in particular, through the activities of public authorities and their officials). However, the constitutional principles of democracy and participation of citizens of the Russian Federation in the management of state affairs need a system of legal guarantees, the most important of which is the institute of public control, through which citizens and public associations (as well as other non-governmental non-profit organizations) can participate in monitoring the activities, acts and decisions of public authorities, state and municipal organizations, other bodies and organizations endowed by federal laws with the right to exercise certain public powers.

The organization and implementation of public control in the Russian Federation are associated with numerous problems caused, in particular, by the "youth" of this institution of civil society, the first legislative mention of which appeared only in 2005 (with the adoption of Federal Law No. 32-FZ dated 04.04.2005 "On the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation"), the weak development of Russian civil society in general, the imperfection of the powers of subjects of public control, as well as problems with defining an exhaustive list of objects of public control.

Analyzing the last of the mentioned problems, it should be noted that the legislation on public control, in particular, Federal Law No. 212-FZ dated 07/21/2014 "On the Basics of Public Control in the Russian Federation", firstly, does not contain a list of objects of public control, or an exhaustive list of signs for their identification, secondly, it He directly removed a number of objects of public control from the subject of his jurisdiction, necessitating the adoption of separate federal laws (most of which have not yet been adopted), thirdly, the concept of public powers, which serves as one of the mentioned identifying features of the object of public control, is not detailed.

In the light of this problem, the analysis of the mechanism of organization and implementation of public control over activities in the field of trade and consumer services is of particular relevance.

Until now, in the educational and scientific literature, as well as in the positions of a number of politicians, the idea generally sounds about the impossibility or inexpediency of exercising public control in these areas of the Russian economy. Apparently, the facts of the disclosure by the people's control bodies in the USSR (and the RSFSR as a union republic) of numerous thefts of state and socialist property, violations of the rights and legitimate interests of Soviet citizens carried out by trade and consumer services enterprises are still fresh in memory. But it was precisely from among these economic entities that the class of small, medium and large owners of means of production was formed in post-reform Russia, which over the past thirty years has formed into a class of capitalists, the protection of whose rights and legitimate interests is the primary task of the Russian public administration apparatus.

However, even within the framework of the existing legislation on public control, activities in the field of trade and consumer services are included in the objects of public control.

Firstly, this concerns the sphere of state and municipal procurement, during which goods, works and services are purchased through procedures established by the state at the expense of federal, regional and local budgets.

Secondly, the list of objects of public control undoubtedly includes the activities, acts and decisions of numerous state and municipal organizations in the field of trade and consumer services.

Thirdly, in our opinion, public control measures cover trade in goods that require obtaining licenses from the state.

           Thus, activities in the field of trade and consumer services act as a promising object of public control for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it affects all categories of citizens of the Russian Federation, legal entities, and public authorities.

Secondly, it accounts for the production of a significant part of Russia's gross domestic product.

Thirdly, a significant part of the able-bodied population of the Russian Federation is engaged in its implementation.

Fourth, in the course of implementing this activity, the rights and freedoms of citizens of the country, as well as the rights and legitimate interests of legal entities (including public associations and other non-governmental non-profit organizations) are directly affected.

However, the organization and implementation of public control over activities in the field of trade and consumer services are associated with a number of problems, including the following:

Firstly, the fact that this institution of civil society is not mentioned in the Constitution of the Russian Federation is a major problem that creates difficulties in organizing and implementing public control over activities in the field of trade and consumer services in Russia. Moreover, the Constitution of the country does not mention the concepts of "civil society", "institutions of civil society", "people's control", "civil control", "control of civil society". Thus, the legal framework for the organization and control of civil society institutions over both the apparatus of public authority and other subjects of law has not been formed at the level of the Constitution of Russia, although the constitutional principles of democracy and participation of citizens of the Russian Federation in the management of state affairs are mentioned directly. This creates certain difficulties, first of all, with determining the limits of public control, the scope of powers of its objects, their personal composition, etc. Solving this problem requires the formalization of this institution of civil society in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Moreover, as we noted in previous studies, at the stage of preparation of various drafts of the Constitution of Russia (before its adoption in 1993), some of them provided for the possibility of fixing a separate chapter "Civil Society". ^{[4, pp. 186-188]} It is necessary to incorporate into the Constitution of the country not only the concept of public control, but also to consolidate its basic principles, forms, methods and types of measures, detailing the mechanism of interaction of subjects of public control with objects of public control, specifying their list, or giving exhaustive criteria for their identification.

Secondly, the next significant problem of the organization and implementation of public control in the field of trade and consumer services is the fact that Federal Law No. 212-FZ dated 07/21/2014 "On the Basics of Public Control in the Russian Federation" has removed actions, acts and decisions of any legal entities from its subject matter, if they do not satisfy at least one of two criteria (they are state or municipal organizations, or they exercise certain public powers and not just on the basis of any regulatory legal acts, but only if this is expressly provided for by federal laws). Thus, in our opinion, the activities, acts and decisions of a significant part of legal entities affecting the rights and freedoms of citizens, the rights and legitimate interests of public associations and other non-governmental non-profit organizations are derived from the subject matter of the legislation on public control, which directly contradicts the goals and objectives of public control formalized in the above-mentioned Federal Law dated 07/21/2014 No. 212-FZ. This ultimately, as we noted in previous studies, ^{[6, pp. 127-130; 7, pp. 199-202]} reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of the functioning of this institution of civil society as a whole.

The resolution of this problem requires, on the one hand, the elaboration of the concept of "public authority" in the legislation on public control. At the same time, it is impossible to artificially narrow the scope of this concept to classify only those activities that are carried out by state authorities, local governments and their officials as public authorities. In our opinion, the category of "public authority" should include such activities that directly affect the rights and freedoms of an indefinite number of individuals on the territory of the Russian Federation, or the rights and legitimate interests of public associations and other non-governmental non-profit organizations.

On the other hand, in the legislation on public control and legislation regulating activities in the field of trade and consumer services, due to their exceptional public importance, as well as due to the fact that it affects the rights and freedoms of an indefinite circle of individuals on the territory of the Russian Federation, or the rights and legitimate interests of public associations and other non-governmental non-profit organizations organizations, it is necessary to consolidate the mechanism of organization and implementation of public control in these areas.

Thirdly, a major problem that creates difficulties in the organization and implementation of public control over activities in the field of trade and consumer services in Russia is the fact that subjects of public control, in fact, are deprived of real powers in relation to these objects of public control, which is extremely disadvantageous distinguishes this institution of public control from the institute of national control the authorities in the USSR (as we wrote about in previous studies), reducing the effectiveness and efficiency of the institute of public control in the Russian Federation. ^{[5, pp. 194-196]} This problem is especially relevant to ongoing offenses and crimes. Subjects of public control cannot stop the activities of trade and consumer services organizations, even if they contain signs of a crime. They have the right only to apply to higher regulatory authorities and organizations, law enforcement agencies, or to the court (for protection of violated rights and freedoms of citizens, rights and legitimate interests of public associations and other non-governmental non-profit organizations). But this, in our opinion, is not enough, especially in conditions when modern trade and consumer services involve almost instant payment for goods, works, and services. In addition, criminals and offenders can quickly withdraw criminally obtained funds abroad, as well as leave the country themselves. In this regard, the legislation on public control needs to be optimized in terms of expanding the powers of subjects of public control. They should be given the opportunity to suspend activities in these areas if this activity contains signs of a crime (until the issue is resolved on its merits by a court or other law enforcement agencies). This is especially important in the context of the fraud that has swept the country using modern information and communication technologies.

Fourthly, the next significant problem of the organization and implementation of public control in the field of trade and consumer services is the fact that the positive foreign and Soviet experience of civil society control in the field of trade and consumer services is poorly used in the organization and functioning of the institute of public control in Russia. So, in the USSR, in some years, from the activities of people's inspectors, etc., the state received billions of rubles of funds stolen by criminals and offenders in the field of trade and consumer services. This circumstance requires, according to a number of authors, ^{[9, pp. 32-37]} coordination of efforts of the Public Chamber and federal authorities in terms of optimization and development of legislation on public control, taking into account domestic and foreign experience in this area. For example, the Public Chamber of a country can coordinate its experience with the capabilities of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (in terms of analyzing and adapting relevant positive experience with its subsequent implementation into legislation on public control).

Fifth, a major problem that creates difficulties in organizing and implementing public control over activities in the field of trade and consumer services in Russia is the fact that subjects of public control are chronically underfunded from federal, regional and local budgets. But the organization and conduct of public control events is a rather laborious and financially costly type of activity. The resolution of this problem requires the involvement of the Government of the Russian Federation in the issue. Federal programs should be developed and adopted to improve the organizational, legal, property, and financial base of the organization and the activities of subjects of public control.

Sixth, a certain problem is the fact that subjects of public control do not have the practice of using modern technologies in the field of control over new forms of trade and consumer services (for example, electronic commerce in goods, works, services, cryptocurrency turnover, cross-border trade, etc.). As we noted earlier, ^{[3, p. 76-79]} this requires coordination of the efforts of the Public Chamber of the country with the Ministries of Science and Higher Education, Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation in terms of the development of modern digital technologies and their adaptation to the work of subjects of public control.

Conclusion.

In the course of our scientific research, we have made a number of conclusions, among which the following can be distinguished:

1. The Institute of Public Control in the Russian Federation is the most important legal guarantee for the implementation, protection and protection of not only constitutional principles (first of all, democracy and participation of Russian citizens in the management of state affairs), but also the entire system of human and civil rights and freedoms, the rights and legitimate interests of public associations and other non-governmental non-profit organizations.

2. The organization and implementation of public control in the Russian Federation are associated with numerous problems, the most important of which is the definition of an exhaustive list of objects of public control.

3. The organization and implementation of public control measures in relation to activities in the field of trade and consumer services in the Russian Federation are associated with numerous problems that require the development and implementation of a system of measures to resolve them, in particular:

a) the lack of formalization of this institution of civil society in the Constitution of Russia requires fixing in it not only the concept of public control, but also a list of its basic principles, methods, forms and types of activities, a list of subjects and objects, or an exhaustive list of identifying features, as well as a mechanism for interaction of subjects of public control with public authorities, representatives other objects of public control;

b) unjustified, in the opinion of the authors, the removal from the subject matter of legislation on public control of activities, acts and decisions of a significant part of legal entities affecting the rights and freedoms of citizens requires expanding the list of objects of public control, for example, by consolidating activities, acts and decisions affecting the rights and freedoms of an indefinite circle of individuals rights and legitimate interests of public associations and other non-governmental non-profit organizations (including activities in the field of trade and consumer services);

c) the lack of real powers for subjects of public control to control activities in the field of trade and consumer services requires correcting this situation by providing them with real powers to prevent and suppress violations of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens in the above-mentioned area (for example, the right to temporarily suspend the activities of an organization in the field of consumer services, if the services provided by it the services and the work performed do not comply with the requirements of current legislation);

d) insufficient use of positive foreign and Soviet experience in this area in the development of the institute of public control, in turn, requires the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, together with the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs of the country, to organize a centralized analysis of positive Soviet and foreign experience in organizing and monitoring civil society institutions in the field of trade and consumer services, followed by its adaptation and implementation into practice of the organization and activities of subjects of public control in the Russian Federation;

e) weak financing of the activities of subjects of public control from budgets of all levels and their insufficient economic base of organization and activity require the adoption by the Government of the Russian Federation of a system of federal programs aimed at strengthening the organizational, legal, financial, technical base of subjects of public control (after coordinating the content of these programs with the Public Chamber of the country);

f) the lack of public control subjects of the practice of using modern technologies in the field of control over new forms of trade and consumer services (for example, electronic commerce in goods, works, services, cryptocurrency turnover, cross-border trade, etc.) requires instructions from the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation together with the Ministries of Science and Higher Education, digital Development, communications and mass media communications of the Russian Federation for the organization of work on the development and implementation of the above-mentioned technologies.