In 1942, in order to execute the genocide of Jews in Belarus, along with carrying out mass executions, the Nazis began to use gaswagens. In June 1942, a «special vehicle» appeared at the disposal of Einsatzkommando 8 in Mogilev. Based on the trials’ recordings and protocols, it can be assumed that at least 2,500 Jews of the Mogilev region were poisoned in gas vans (gaswagens). Details of the crimes committed by the Nazis with the use of gas vans became known in the 1960s, when lawsuits were held in the Federative Republic of Germany against former members of Einsatzkommando 8: A. Garnishmacher, G. Richter, G. Haase, G. Schlechte, K. Strohammer. The paper sets the goal, using the example of trials against the members of Einsatzkommando 8, to determine what legal assessment West Germany justice gave to the Nazi atrocities associated with the extermination of Jews in gaswagens. On the one hand, the trials against former members of Einsatzkommando 8 testified to the desire of German justice to critically rethink Germany’s recent past, to ensure the principle of inevitability of criminal responsibility for Nazi criminals. On the other hand, the outcomes of the trials under consideration indicated that West German Themis, as well as the overwhelming majority of the citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany, refused to treat the former members of Einsatzkommando as criminals. In German society, the prevailing opinion was that the blame for the Holocaust and other crimes of National Socialism lay exclusively with A. Hitler and his entourage (G. Himmler, R. Heydrich, etc.). The rest of the Germans were only «hostages of the regime» who «due to special life circumstances» were forced to perform the criminal orders of the Fuehrer. In juridical practice, that approach took shape in the theory of complicity, based on which the German courts assigned minimal punishments to Nazi criminals, and often the courts completely exempted them from criminal liability.

Virtualization of power, politics, administration, and the state is a popular terminology that characterizes changes in the socio-political environment in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Information and computer technologies and Internet technologies, digitalization of the society, of the state and law create a special reality, namely: a virtual space where «digital twins» are located and operate, and digital processes reflecting reality and parallel to it take place. New theories related to virtualization of political life can be contrasted with traditional approaches to the political and legal system. The paper examines and developes ideas that counter-balance, to a certain extent, the sovereign national statehood by virtue of either its actual absorption by international political or corporate structures or dissolution among other subjects of the political system (due to the increasing opportunities for civil society institutions to influence the political decision-making process). There is also the opposite danger of turning into an authoritarian state. In any case, modern constitutional values are being questioned. In legal studies, there is no rush to agree with such conclusions. The ideas of networkization and virtualization of relations of power are quite compatible with the classical political and legal doctrines of state sovereignty, democracy and human rights, the rule of law and separation of powers. In turn, these doctrines themselves must undergo certain transformation taking into account new challenges of the digital society.

The paper examines the issues of the legal status of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the light of the science and practice of application of constitutional and administrative law. Special attention is paid to the legal status of the Commissioner for Human Rights and the list of his powers in the field of human rights protection. The authors suggest the ways of improving the institution of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation with due regard to the experience of foreign states. It is concluded that 1) administrative capacity, as well as administrative legal capacity cannot be the same-order elements of a legal status along with rights, obligations and responsibilities, since administrative capacity and administrative legal capacity in the presence of a legal fact constitute only a condition for the transformation of the subject of law into the subject of a specific administrative legal relationship; 2) a status of an authorized person is a combination of the following elements: rights, duties, responsibility for decision-making and non-fulfillment of powers, guarantees of functioning in the field of protecting human rights and freedoms.

The paper examines the features of the legal regulation of consideration of administrative disputes and public service disputes as one of their types by the courts of general jurisdiction. It is shown that, despite the public and managerial nature of state-official, disciplinary relations, public service disputes between civil servants and an authorized manager about the legality of disciplinary sanctions, as well as disputes between employees and their employers, are dealt with by the courts under the rules of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, since the legislation does not establish special jurisdictional rules for claims arising from public service disputes. The author substantiates the opinion that for administrative cases challenging (appealing) the decisions, acts (or omissions to act) of state authorities and other state bodies and their officials on the ground of their nature and content of legal relations underlying them, administrative proceedings constitute the preferred procedural form for their consideration. Currently, administrative proceedings do not have any legitimate possibility to consider a dispute complicated by civil claims. Based on the analysis of existing approaches to the choice of procedural forms of consideration of public service disputes, it is suggested that the court can consistently consider within one administrative case, first, the legality of an administrative act, and then the claims against the state body, which will require the revision of the concept of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure in the RF.

he paper is devoted to the study of fundamental principles of a modern model of supervision over non-credit financial institutions. Based on the results of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the supervision over the activities of non-credit financial institutions is currently a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, the main characteristics of which include risk-orientation, macroprudential orientation, the use of motivated (professional) judgment, proportional regulation, supervision over observance of the rights and legitimate interests of financial services’ consumers and a combination of various forms of control and supervision activities. Such a model of supervision over non-credit financial institutions, based on the best world practices, makes it possible to ensure effective management of risks arising in financial markets, completeness and timeliness of performance by non-credit financial institutions of their obligations, protection of the rights and legitimate interests of financial services’ consumers.

The issue of the legal nature of penalties in customs is controversial. Changes that have taken place since 1993 in the customs regulation of the procedure for calculating penalties show that the legislator has moved away from the pronounced punitive in nature interpretation of this category. At the same time, in the literature for more than 10 years, scientists have equated penalties in customs legal relations with a variety of sanctions. Law enforcement practice, in turn, does not consider penalties as a measure of responsibility, emphasizing their exclusively right restorative (remedial) function. The paper highlights modern regulatory provisions confirming the conclusion that the legislator acknowledges and consolidates the punitive function of penalties for late payment of customs payments. At the same time, the emphasis is made on the approach that is not always consistent in regulating grounds and procedure for penalties payment. Such ambiguity failes to contribute to a uniform interpretation and application of legal rules governing calculation of penalties. The paper attempts to substantiate the need for a legislative definition of the place of penalties for late payment of customs payments in the system of measures of state coercion.

Federal Law No. 199-FZ of July 26, 2019 introduced numerous changes to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation in order to improve budget control. The presented study is devoted to one of legislative amendments, namely: reforming the legal regulation of the procedure authorizing transactions. At the beginning of the paper, the author examines the features inherent in transactions’ authorization under the previous edition of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation. In particular, special attention is paid to comparing the types of authorization and establishing a correlation between the named category and types of budget control. Further, the paper analyzes the initial draft law and the final draft law determining the corresponding changes. As a result, it was established that at present the RF Budget Code does not contain any legal consolidation of the methods of preliminary control. In conclusion, two ways of solving this problem are proposed. Given that authorization has retained the distinctive features of control activities, the return of the norms defining authorization as a method of control to the RF BC is considered as a priority option.

The paper examines in detail measures relatively recently legalized in the Russian Federation and aimed at combating manipulation of the mass consciousness via the Internet. Particular attention has been paid to the creation of the Russian segment of the Internet, prohibition of the use of obscene language on the Internet, prohibition of dissemination of information containing the cult of violence or cruelty, prohibition of calls to attend unauthorized public events, requirement of licensing of educational activities, creation of a wide educational system in the country and, of course, introduction of categories of public associations and individuals performing the functions of foreign agents. Based on the results of the study, the authors come to the conclusion that the entire set of counter-manipulative measures currently being implemented in the Russian Federation in their strategic perspective can lead to significant benefits. However, these measures imply a significant increase in government intervention in the information sphere of society, which creates a real opportunity for the formation of the institution of censorship that, in turn, always creates a breeding ground for various kinds of power abuse in relation to the society and individuals. To minimize the likelihood of such a negative scenario, the authors propose to focus not on the widespread use of institutions of the State, but on attracting and developing civil society institutions, which, in turn, will ensure a balance of interests between the citizens and the State, and will facilitate the formation of a developed civil society in the Russian Federation.

The paper studies the process of obtaining informed consent in genomic and genetic research. The author considers some aspects of obtaining consent in the realm of the emergence of large-scale population studies and genomic databases that have challenged the traditional concepts of informed consent. The author examines foreign experience of obtaining informed consent as well as the concept considering informed consent as two main components, namely a dialogue or a process and form. Today due to the decoding of the genome and the possibility of re-identifying information, the information obtained in the course of scientific research and conducting genomic and genetic research can be disclosed. Therefore, the question is raised about the need for legal protection of such information and mechanisms for its protection. It is concluded that informed consent is no longer a single document tied to a particular study; it is becoming a dynamic process. The paper summarizes the latest theoretical and practical aspects of obtaining informed consent in genomic and genetic studies.

The paper is devoted to the problem of application of Art. 333 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation by Russian courts. The subject of the research is the common features of legal regulation, allowing for a penalty reduction. Formal legal and comparative legal methods, as well as the method of modeling legal situations were used in the course of the research. The study revealed a number of problems related to the correct application of the provisions of this article. An analysis of cases considered by Russian courts shows that the courts often reduce the penalty arbitrarily, without a clear justification of the motives. In order to improve this situation, it is proposed to supplement the Civil Code of the Russian Federation with Chapter 22.1, expanding the grounds for suspending the performance of an obligation, and to change the wording of Art. 333 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, excluding the possibility of reducing the penalty in legal relations related to the implementation of shared housing construction, as well as in other legal relations with the participation of a citizen-consumer in the event of a breach by an organization or an individual entrepreneur, except for cases of suspension of the obligation.

Guilt in criminal law in its essence is a very complex category, but at the same time, it is the main feature of the subjective side of the crime, which predetermines its rigorous and precise establishment within the framework of the classification of the crime. The paper states that the greatest difficulty in establishing guilt is in terms of subjective error, where the prerequisites are delusion and ignorance. At the same time, the non-identical nature of these concepts is emphasized. Based on a psychological and philosophical analysis, the author draws a conclusion about the causes of delusion and ignorance in criminal law relations, which are a defect in perception and a defect in information content. Taking into account the indicated reasons, as well as judicial enforcement practice, the author concludes that the main criterion for establishing guilt in terms of delusion or ignorance is an element of good faith. Given its application, the paper proposes levels of types of delusion and ignorance, and further their role in establishing the mental attitude of a person to a committed criminal act.

Having analyzed some of the definitions of interest existing in the science of criminal procedural law, the author, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the definitions of interest proposed earlier by procedural scientists, formulates his own concept of criminal procedural interest. The author examines the issue of the relationship between private and public interests in the pre-trial stages of Russian criminal proceedings, determining their internal content. The author considers the issue of the appointment of criminal proceedings in the context of the balance of private and public interests in Russian pre-trial proceedings in criminal cases. In support of his arguments, the author refers to the positions of scientists on this issue, specific examples from law enforcement practice (judicial, prosecutorial and investigative). Based on the results of the study, the author concludes that in the current criminal procedure legislation, due to the increased attention to the interests of the individual, the public interest has not been adequately reflected, which will require not only scientific rethinking, but also legislative adjustment.

The purpose of the paper is to identify differences in the normative fixing of the universal procedural institution of a court fine (monetary penalty) that are not justified by industry specifics. The method of comparative law was the determining method of research. The paper compares the titles, structures, sizes, grounds, subject composition, the procedure for considering and appealing the imposition of procedural sanctions under the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the Commercial Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and the Administrative Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. The wording «court fine» in the criminal procedure and other types of procedures denotes completely different concepts. The application of a monetary penalty is limited to an excessively narrow list of subjects. The Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation provides for a low and undifferentiated size of the sanction; the issue of the possibility of appeal has not been resolved. The author proposes to borrow relevant solutions to these issues from the compared institutions of other procedural branches. The author substantiates the necessity of convergence of universal institutions of criminal procedural, civil procedural, arbitrazh procedural and administrative procedural law, as well as the belonging of the institute of procedural responsibility to the number of universal ones.

The paper is devoted to the topical problem in civil law in Russia and Syria, i.e., the right of ownership of residential premises, its registration and methods of protection. The paper presents the results of a comparison of regulatory support and the procedure for state registration of rights to housing in Russia and Syria. Similar and distinctive features are defined, urgent issues of the legislation are revealed. The author formulates proposals for amending the Syrian legislative framework in order to improve the process of registering the right to housing, taking into account the Russian experience. In particular, it was concluded that the Syrian legislation needs to be supplemented with rules governing the right of ownership and other real rights to real estate associated with residential premises. Certain legal provisions can be borrowed from the Russian law. In addition, issues of ownership, especially for residential real estate, should be regulated by special rules due to the essentially special status of residential premises in comparison with other real estate objects. It has been established that the current Syrian Civil Code does not adequately regulate issues related to ownership and registration of rights to residential premises. For this reason, the author believes that there is an urgent need to develop housing legislation in Syria. It is necessary to develop special provisions that would deal specifically with the rights to residential premises.

The system of state environmental policy acts includes the Constitution of the Russian Federation in respect of environmental provisions, federal laws, decrees of the President of the Russian Federation and regulations of the Government of the Russian Federation. The Constitution as a political and legal act constitutes a fundamental and stable basis for legal regulation in this area. In environmental legislation, environmental policy is determined selectively, not covering all areas of environmental relations. This interferes with a clear understanding of what goals should be achieved as a result of the implementation of the law. It is proposed to restore the practice that existed in Soviet times and used in foreign legislation by including provisions on the goals and objectives of legal regulation in the texts of laws. Strategic planning documents are characterized by weak coherence and fragmentation, an unclear correlation in terms of legal force and areas of regulation. It is proposed not only to make the work of state authorities on the development of environmental policy systematic, but also to codify political and legal by-laws.

As the experience of developed countries has shown, the creation of an effective zero-waste economic model based on the principles of a circular economy is impossible without the competent management of production and consumption waste. The most important aspect in this case is the separate collection of waste by fractions, which reduces the cost of sorting and, as a result, increases the attractiveness of recyclables. The purpose of the study is to identify the main obstacles that the Russian Federation faces in carrying out the waste reform and creating a system for the separate collection of municipal solid waste. An analysis of the accumulated scientific and practical experience on this issue allows us to assert that the viability of separate waste collection as an economic model for handling them can hardly be contested. The feasibility and potential cost-effectiveness of separate collection is confirmed by studies conducted both in the context of the country as a whole and at the level of individual regions. Based on this, the author assumes that the problem of introducing separate waste collection is of an organizational and legal nature, in connection with which he analyzed the main theoretical and legal approaches to solving the issue. Having studied the empirical material accumulated by science, the author concludes that three main factors prevent separate waste collection, namely a low level of waste management culture among the population, an insufficient number of incentive mechanisms for the industry, and the existence of legal gaps and administrative barriers that prevent creation of infrastructure for separate collection and disposal of waste. The author considers the main aspects of these factors and suggests options for solving the identified problems.

The elimination of environmental damage accumulated as a result of past economic activities is one of the factors ensuring the state’s human right to a favorable environment, provided for by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The paper deals with the issues of identifying and assessing such harm. An analysis of the criteria for assessing past environmental damage, provided for by the current legislation, is carried out. The harm caused to the natural environment by objects of accumulated harm is wider in the social sense of the word than in the legal one. Ultimately, its most negative consequence is causing harm to health and life of both each citizen and the whole society as a whole. The criteria for assessing objects of accumulated environmental damage, provided for by the current legislation, make it impossible to assess the real impact of such objects on the state of the environment and the economic efficiency of their liquidation. The lack of mechanisms for a comprehensive assessment of the impact of objects of accumulated harm on the state of the environment hinders the ability to fully resolve the issue of compensation for environmental damage caused to human life and health and, as a result, ensuring the constitutional human right to a favorable environment.