Background. In modern conditions of Ukraine’s formation as an independent, democratic and sovereign state there is an urgent need to rethink approaches to national security of Ukraine and its support system. The task of reforming Ukraine requires from the Ukrainian people and leadership drastic action to define national interests, ways of achieving them and national security as part of the conditions of existence and development of Ukraine. The aim of the article. On the basis of the research, given the current conditions in Ukraine and prospects of its development, to determine the direction of establishing the foundations of legal support of Ukraine’s national security by analyzing basic constitutional provisions in national security, critical analysis of the current Law of Ukraine «On Principles of National Security of Ukraine»and the presentation of the author’s vision of the concept of the Law of Ukraine «On National Security of Ukraine»as a base. Materials and methods. The methodological base of the article is formal and logical method that made it possible to analyze certain aspects of the concept of «national security», which derives from various regulatory acts. Comparative and structural and logical methods were applied in the context of the study of origin of certain nuances of legal interpretation of national security. Sociological method was used taking into account the characteristics of social reality in the current development of the Ukrainian state. Results. Imperfect legal support in the field of national security of Ukraine and the low efficiency of its use lead to its inadequate provision, make it impossible to fully realize national interests. Lack of key elements of «national security»definition in the Constitution of Ukraine and the inadequacies of the current Law of Ukraine «On Principles of National Security of Ukraine»to contemporary realities, real and potential threats and challenges require the development of the law «On National Security of Ukraine». Conclusion. Extraordinary process of preparing a bill that should define the foundations of not only legal national security but its methodology as well requires involvement in its development of leading scientific institutions, including the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, the National Institute for Strategic Studies, Institute of Legislation of the Supreme Council of Ukraine, universities and representatives of civil society and independent experts. The content of this bill should determine current definition of «national security»and its implementation system, the main characteristics of national security, sources of threats to national security, types and levels of hierarchy and development of documents of strategic planning of national security (concept, doctrine, strategy and other regulatory regulations), objects, subjects and agents of national security, determining and approving the indicative parameters of national security, control and responsibility for national security and so on.

Background. Formation of real local self-government, which would be based on the principles of the European Charter of local self-government, is one of the most important and difficult tasks of Ukraine`s development as a democratic state. Without its reform and implementation of decentralization we cannot overcome the negative trends in social and economic development of communities and regions, significantly increase the level and quality of life of most of the citizens of Ukraine. Only a paradigm shift in governance, consistent implementation of local self-government reform, empowerment of local governments would contribute to building local government based on democracy. The aim of the research is to analyze theoretical principles and main directions of reform and decentralization of power in Ukraine. Materials and methods. System of general scientific, philosophical and specially legal methods, that enables to achieves the goal, creates methodological basis of the article. Results. An important task that should be solved in the process of reforming the political system of Ukraine is a radical increase in the role of local self-government institution in the mechanism of democracy and in the organization of administration at all territorial levels. Its transformation from a government appendage to independent really efficient tool of social governance can ensure sustainable development of communities and create civilized life conditions for citizens, will help raise the provision of social and administrative services to European standards. Conclusion. As a result of local self-government reform and decentralization of power basis for a new system of local government should be merged municipalities, which are formed on a voluntary basis by legislative procedures with their own governments, including council executive bodies. In settlements whose residents have not received the status of municipalities should be formed BSP (bodies of self-organization of population), which form part of the local authorities of the municipality. State support is the starting point to create a new territorial basis of effective local self-government to replace outdated Soviet model. Ukraine must make this reform to build a truly European state.

Background. Administrative reform and socio-economic changes taking place in Ukraine constantly require finding and implementing new ways aimed at improving compliance with requirements of discipline and rule of law in military formations. At this stage of Ukraine’s development to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity is one of the most important tasks of the state and cannot be done without the successful functioning of military forces. Given the fact that military forces are of particular importance to national defense, characteristics of their administrative and legal status should determined. The aim of the article is to analyze the concept and components of administrative and legal status of military forces in Ukraine. Materials and methods. The work was carried out by using different general scientific and special methods. Structural and functional research method was used to characterize the definition of «military forces», «administrative and legal status of military forces»and their components. Results. For a more accurate and complete understanding of the concept of «administrative and legal status»it should be viewed through the prism of its legal personality, thus highlight items such as purpose, objectives, functions, powers, competencies, methods and forms of activity, responsibility. All the elements of the administrative and legal status should be divided into four parts: target; organizational and structural; competence; legal liability. Describing the administrative and legal status of military forces, the purpose of their creation should be noted first. Based on the specific purpose it is apparent that military forces are controlled by the military administration, which together with the Supreme Council of Ukraine, President of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine determine their main functions and tasks within the limits set by the legislation of Ukraine. Conclusion. The definition of «military forces»should fully cover all the features that characterize them as a set of military formations and units, because they are the main basis of this issue. That is why we believe it’s appropriate to give a definition of military forces. Military forces are established under the laws of Ukraine set of associations (formations and units) and their management that belong to the land, sea, air and special forces of Ukraine, have temporary or permanent organization, staffed with the military, have the right to carry and use weapons and military equipment and are intended to defend Ukraine, protect its sovereignty, state independence and national interests, territorial integrity and inviolability in case of armed aggression, armed conflict or threat of attack by direct warfare (combat) action.

Background. Formation and development of Ukraine as a democratic, social and legal state is impossible without effective self-regulation of economic activity. Analysis of recent research and publications. In Ukraine, the issue of self-regulation has been studied primarily in the context of certain specialized self-regulatory organizations, their legal status and functions. The aim of the article is a formal definition and legal justification of the concept of self-regulation in business by analyzing individual articles of the Constitution of Ukraine, the European Parliament and the Council. Materials and methods. General scientific and special methods of knowledge of legal phenomena such as analysis and synthesis, systematic approach, interpretation of the rules, formal logical, dialectic, systematic and functional, comparative legal and synthesis were used. Information base of research is the Constitution of Ukraine, laws of Ukraine, EU Directive, national research papers. Results. Self-regulation in economic activity is defined as the voluntary implementation by the entities of measures to organize and streamline certain field of public relations, define rules, standards and guidelines for the interests of society and the communities. Analysis of the EU Directive brings us to a conclusion that self-regulation is: an additional tool that exists along with judicial and administrative procedures; voluntary method of control; effective mechanism for regulation of social relations; initiative activities of relevant entities to the adoption of common principles; plays a useful role in ensuring activities within the directives of the European Union; cannot be a substitute for legal commitments at a national level; encouraged the use of co- regulation and self-regulation in certain areas, which affect positively consumer rights protection. Conclusion. Self-regulation in economic activity requires constitutional and legislative support. Constitution of Ukraine does not define the issue of self-regulation. Due to this it is expedient to amend the Constitution of Ukraine on self-regulation, namely to complement Article 42 of the Basic Law with Part 5, which should be as follows:«The State guarantees self-regulation of economic activity. Establishment and operation of self-regulatory organizations are determined by law. Self-regulation must not disrupt free exercise of professions and restrict freedom of establishment».

Background. Consumers that purchase, order or use products that are sold in Ukraine, to meet their personal needs have a right to necessary, accessible, accurate and timely information about the product, its quantity, quality, range, that enables conscious and competent choice, and about its manufacturer (performer, seller). Producer (performer, seller) alone must determine the right amount of information, mindful of its responsibility for the incomplete information provided by law. However, in the current legislation Ukraine there is no single interpretation of the term «necessary, accessible, accurate and timely information», which has certainly a negative impact on consumer protection, as it’s difficult to interpret ambiguous law nature of such information. That is why arises the issue of paradigm of consumer right to obtain information about products due to imperfect legal definition of this category. The right to information guarantees the customer complete, accessible, accurate and timely information about the products. Clarification of the definitions in legislation will allow consumers to fully exercise their right to receive information about products. The aim of this article is the correlation analysis of the concept of «necessary, accessible, accurate and timely information»about the products and provide recommendations on improvement of legislation of consumer protection. Materials and methods. Analysis of the current consumer legislation was conducted using formal and logical method that made it possible to detect discrepancies, contradictions and gaps currently existing in Ukraine’s legislation to protect consumer rights to information. The method of sociological research was applied in the characteristics of the ways to ensure adequate consumer protection, establishing laws to protect consumer rights. Results. The right of citizens to information about the quality of goods is the social and economic rights, its implementation is possible primarily through an appropriate level of material production and social relations in society. The state takes the responsibility to establish for manufacturers specific requirements for the quality of goods and oblige producers and sellers to provide citizens with all the information about the extent of useful and other properties of the products offered to consumers. It exercises it through appropriate laws and the creation of special control over product quality and consumer protection and so on. Consumers that purchase, order or use products that are sold in Ukraine, to meet their personal needs have a right to necessary, accessible, accurate and timely information about the product, its quantity, quality, range, and its manufacturer (performer, seller). Given the fact that consumers aren’t professionals in the commercial sphere and don’t have special knowledge that can help them make a competent choice of products, there is a need for interpretation of the law concepts such as the «necessary information», «accessible information», «accurate information»and «timely information»about the products. Conclusion. In this study improvements to the legal regulation of relations in this field, the essence of which is specifying definition «necessary, accessible, accurate and timely information about products»were suggested. Given this, it is useful to supplement Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine «On Consumer Rights Protection»with clarification of the meaning of «necessary, accessible, accurate and timely information about the product».

Background. Democratization of the society of the last decades encourages taxpayers to actively carry out the tax obligation, initiate the introduction of taxes and even pay taxes voluntarily. Prior to the adoption of the Tax Code of Ukraine «tax»had been defined as a source of the budget and state funds, attention was focused on forced feature of tax. The aim of the article is to explore a variety of approaches to the definition and features of tax category as a finance law category, determine tax principles, suggest ways to improve legislation in this area. Materials and methods. Dialectical, formal and dogmatic, comparative and legal, as well as structural and system analysis methods were used during the study. Results. The article is devoted to the research of tax as a financial law category, definition of the principles on which it is based. Features that allow separate tax from other mandatory payments to public funds have been considered. Also in the article attention has been paid to the study of such category as «tax obligation». It has been proved that the tax obligation includes three groups of responsibilities: concerning accounting (registration), accrual and payment and declaration (reporting). Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding determination of tax obligation and imposing tax on a taxpayer have been proposed. Special attention has been paid to the principle of participation of the people as the sole source of power in the financial activities of the state and forms of direct democracy that people can implement in taxes. The emphasis is on identifying ways to prevent infringement of the principle of stability provided by the Tax Code of Ukraine. Conclusion. The result of the study is the author’s definition of tax. Amendments to the Budget and Tax Code of Ukraine have been offered.

Background. The issue of preventing and combating corruption in all spheres of modern Ukrainian society is becoming important, especially for the army currently performing military service and on the effectiveness of which depends the protection of territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country. Therefore, one of the conditions to guarantee the constitutional rights and freedoms of military servicemen in Ukraine is preventing and combating corruption in the military sphere. Analysis of recent research and publications. The issue of the rights and freedoms of servicemen of Ukraine is the subject of research of many Ukrainian scientists. The authors have made specific proposals for improvement of regulations aimed at guaranteeing constitutional rights and freedoms of military personnel. However, the question of their implementation by preventing and combating corruption in the military field has not been studied, so it’s open. The aim of the article is to study the guarantees of constitutional rights and freedoms of servicemen in Ukraine and their implementation by preventing and combating corruption in the military sphere. Materials and methods. The work was conducted using general and specific research methods, that helped achieve conceptual unity. Structural and functional method was used to outline the list of positions with increased corruption risk; system analysis and synthesis methods –to study the organization of the prevention of corruption in the military sphere; analogy and modeling one –to implement international experience in solving problems; system and logical and prognostic ones –to determine the strategy of the anti-corruption struggle. Results. System activity in the organization of the prevention of corruption in the military sphere is joint implementation of measures by entities carrying out activities to prevent and combat corruption. Therefore, for the effective research of the guarantee of constitutional rights and freedoms of military personnel by preventing and combating corruption in the military one should consider activities of specially authorized entities in combating corruption; public authorities; authorized units on prevention and detection of corruption created in government, including military units and NGOs engaged in activities to prevent and combat corruption. Effective mechanism to guarantee the constitutional rights and freedoms of military servicemen is an active civil society, which has a fundamental impact on building integrity of citizens and reduces corruption in the military sphere. Conclusion. It should be noted that the direction for further improvement of public control in the military should expansion of its forms and methods, working out legal and institutional mechanisms of accountability of facilities under the control of public and professional specialization development of civil controllers and introducing certain mechanisms to prevent corruption among them. Under favorable conditions public control can be a major means of guaranteeing the constitutional rights and freedoms of servicemen Ukraine. Further research in this area is promising and will allow implement effective guarantee of constitutional rights and freedoms of military servicemen in Ukraine.

Background. Systematization and unification of the rules of competition law should become an important direction of the further development of fair competition in Ukraine. Analysis of recent research and publications.Issues of systematization of legislation, particularly in the sphere of competition have been researched in the works by: A. Bezukh, S. Valitov, A. Hratsianov, Y. Zhuryk, T. Kashanina, D. Kerimov, A. Chernelevska and others. The aim of the article is to study problems of competition law systematization and to determine directions of its further enhancement. Results. The complexity of competition legislation does not allow to choose only one type of systematization of its rules. It has been over ten years since the Civil and Commercial Codes of Ukraine entered into force, more than twenty years since regulation of competitive relations was introduced, but today most of the regulations contain flaws and contradictions, regulating social relations in various spheres of economic activity in different ways. Under such conditions the first task is to carry out monitoring of current legislation, identifying regulations that directly regulate the competitive relations and those rules that have an impact on the development and protection of fair competition. The depth of the assessment of the impact on competition should be proportional to the degree of potential negative consequences of a legal measure in terms of competition. The checklist to assess the impact on competition enables operatively review such measures to quickly identify from the large number of rules that are studied, to further assess those which can have potentially negative effects on competition. In the course of reviewing the current legislation for its impact on competition, all the legal norms, that can in any way affect the conditions of competition in the market, should be analysed. Further such an assessment should be made primarily to assess the impact of «new»legislation on competition and only in those cases where the corresponding legal norm includes the potential danger of an honest and fair competition in the market. Conclusions. The main task of systematization and harmonization of competition law should be the enhancement of the legal principles to protect fair competition in Ukraine and the efficiency of the application of competition law by enforcement authorities.

Background. Domestic and international experience shows that the introduction of alternative ways of dispute resolution along with the justice system is the most effective prerequisite for resolving legal conflicts and disputes. Moreover, today justice system in Ukraine has a number of significant drawbacks: large workload of courts, length and complexity of litigation, significant legal costs, lack of a developed mechanism of competition and equality of parties, publicity of the trial leading to the disclosure of confidential information, lack of generally accepted criteria of justice. The above together with the international obligations of Ukraine encourage the introduction of new methods of dispute resolution. The aim of the article. Determination of the main principles of introducing mediation procedure in the national legal system, clarification of Ukraine’s international obligations in this area, analysis of the principles and benefits of mediation as an alternative commercial dispute resolution. Materials and methods. The following general scientific and special methods were used while working on the topic: formal logical method to interpret the content of mediation as one of the types of dispute resolution; comparative one to carry out comparative characteristics of different ways out of difficult situations; sociological one to analyze social conditionality of mediation procedure; instrumental one for distinguishing components of the mediation procedure as instruments of mediator; axiological one to determine the rules and objectives of conduct of the parties to the conflict; historical one to review the historical experience of conflict resolution involving a mediator. Results. One of the promising development directions of alternative methods of dispute resolution is mediation – a procedure in which the mediator systematically promotes communication between parties to the conflict or dispute to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the conflict or dispute. In addition, the mediator operates on the principles of neutrality and confidentiality. The need for the introduction of mediation in the domestic legal system is based on the positive results of the practice of reconciliation method in many countries, which indicates its effectiveness. Adoption of the Law of Ukraine «On mediation», which would effectively regulate the mediation procedure, legal status of mediators, quality of mediation, execution of mediation agreements, promote the reform of the judicial system and increase the investment attractiveness of Ukraine. Conclusion. Mediation is a promising new way of resolving disputes both in the area of public and private law. In Ukraine, at the legislative initiatives level, foundation for the introduction of mediation and mediation procedures was formed, but these legislative innovations require formation of a clear theoretical framework to: interpretation of terms (mediation, mediator, mediation agreement, etc.); identifying the nature and limits of the concept of legal disputes that can be resolved through mediation procedure; responsibility of the participants of the mediation procedure for privacy violation.

Background. Universal values determined for Ukraine irreversible path to the European community, which makes radically revise protection of rights and freedoms of the victims in the criminal justice system by the provisions declared by the Constitution of Ukraine concerning guarantees of protection of rights and freedoms. Natural, supranational, absolute law is a must for the development of legal, social and democratic state, which should be given priority in Ukraine. The aim of the article is to study and analyze problems of protection of victims of criminal offenses in Ukraine and offer own solution concept, which is an important part of a mechanism to ensure human rights and freedoms in a rule of law state. Materials and methods. Dialectical method of research was used during the examination of the main provisions of the rights and freedoms in the criminal justice, system analysis was used in terms of criminal law and criminal procedural protection of victims. Results. Rule of law priority requires gradual fitting of national legislation to international law to protect the rights and freedoms of the victims in the criminal justice system. Criminal law, which is currently largely transient in nature (transitive criminal law) and is characteristic for the post-totalitarian, authoritarian regimes should provide effective criminal protection of wellbeing and interests of man as the highest social value. It is necessary to recognize the need to create and design a new model of criminal relations in the triad «offender – victim – state»based on the basis of public law changes and human rights primacy. Conclusion. Currently there is no organizational and legal mechanism to protect victims from the consequences of criminal offenses in Ukraine. Given the realities of the new state strategy focused on European values Ukraine needs to urgently fill the legal vacuum concerning guarantees of criminal law on victim protection. This scientific article is devoted to this pressing problem. Time will tell how it can be solved, and the European Convention on Human Rights has become a reference point for legislative and rule-making activities of the state, because its standards should be a priority for Ukraine’s legal system.

Background. Detention of a person suspected of a criminal offense on the territory of diplomatic missions, consular offices of Ukraine is rather complicated procedural activity and is unexplored by scientists and practitioners. It’s regulated by several branches of law: criminal procedure, criminal and international law. The aim of the article is to identify drawbacks of legal regulation to effect a lawful arrest of a person who has committed a criminal offense on the territory of diplomatic missions and consular offices of Ukraine; clarify the differences of the legal terminology used in Chapter 41 of Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and the applicable international instruments; develop recommendations to address them. Materials and methods. Different methods of scientific knowledge have been used in the work: system structural, comparative legal, logical legal, logical semantic, generalization method and others. Chief among them is the general dialectical method of cognition of objective reality phenomena. Logical semantic method has been used to study and deepen research concepts. Formal legal method has been used in the study of regulations governing the detention of a suspect in diplomatic missions, consular offices of Ukraine, comparative legal – to compare legal concepts, definitions of domestic and international law, generalization method has been used to express the main results of work. Results. The detention of a suspect in the premises of diplomatic missions and consular offices of Ukraine has its own characteristics related to the legal regulations, detention time, people authorized for detention, special status of suspects, order of arrest and bringing a detainee to government units in Ukraine etc. Conclusion. Taking into account the severity of the committed criminal offenses one should not just use the right of detention as a preventative measure, but provide in the criminal proceedings the possibility to use others, including not isolating precautions. Perhaps it’s justified to introduce such preventive measures as taking the suspect under surveillance of the head of the diplomatic mission or consular office of Ukraine banning (or not) this person to leave the premises of the diplomatic mission or consular office of Ukraine.

Background. In the transition from abstract understanding of public relations to the level of specific interpersonal relations it appears that they often are immediate determinants of crime. That is committing a crime against a person is usually preceded by the sequence of interactions that consist of mutual incentives and reactions of the offender and the victim that directly form the mechanism of criminal behavior. Another important factor that affects the mechanism of criminal behavior is the environment, which includes a specific life situation as well. The study of all these circumstances, the author believes, should contribute to developing measures to prevent crimes against the person that makes this topic very relevant. The aim of this article is to analyze the impact of life situation on the development of individual criminal behavior. Materials and methods. Findings of the expert survey of police officers (hereinafter – PO) were the materials of the research. Scientific and theoretical basis for studying the problem constituted the study of modern Ukrainian and foreign lawyers and criminologists on issues relating to the topic of the article. Both general and special scientific methods and techniques of knowledge were applied to solve these tasks. Results. Research of the causal complex of crime indicate a significant impact of the specific life situation on the genesis of criminal behavior. Specific life situation has especially strong impact on impulsive crimes. The author believes that the external environment of individual, its and victim’s personal qualities, specific life situation associated with it and other factors must be considered together with all four stages of the mechanism of criminal behavior: motivation, planning, execution and results. Each stage of the set contains various elements and has certain characteristics. In the mechanism of individual criminal behavior specific life situation may play a role of the conditions as well as causes of crime, but it does not necessarily push people to commit a crime. A person can not commit a crime even in the most difficult situations. In this connection situations are distinguished as motivational indifferent and motivating. Conclusion. Behavior of the victim and his or her personal qualities make significant impact on the crime situation. Relations between the victim and criminal are essential in the genesis of individual criminal behavior and are part of the environment. They exercise influence on the formation of a criminal motive, behavior during and after the crime. The mechanism model of the criminal behavior of a subject of relationship consists of five units. The author considers it appropriate to supplement the diagram with a postcriminal behavior block because its research has criminological significance, namely, to develop measures to prevent re-offending. Also the model presented above shows that the relationship between the victim and the offender are part of the environment, victim’s personality impacts on each block mechanism of criminal behavior.

Background. Unemployment in Ukraine has recently become critical, it leads to disruption of social identity of the population and even to some mental illness among the unemployed. Unemployment results in lower social status and material security of people, which in turn negatively affects the social relations and criminal situation in the society. Ukraine’s desire to integrate into the world community and the problems associated with the formation of open type economy require new approaches to learning and solving problems in the labor market, including the issue of unemployment. The aim of this article is to study the theoretical methodological and applied foundations of unemployment; scientific justification of the priorities of its regulation. Materials and methods. General scientific and special methods of research have been used in the article: structural logic to study regulatory interpretation of the unemployment phenomenon, sociological – social conditioning of employment problems, classification – determine types of unemployment and groups of the unemployed, comparison – study certain articles of the current legislation. Results. The main form of solving the problem of unemployment in today’s economy is an efficient state employment policy based on the principles of full coverage: free choice of work by economically active population; equal opportunities for people in the exercise of the constitutional right to work; social protection against unemployment. Its state in the country primarily depends on effective employment policy, which is not possible without a comprehensive legal regulation. Labor legislation of Ukraine protects but does not help from unemployment, it has certain gaps and does not regulate existing types of work, including atypical forms of employment. Among the causes of youth unemployment scientists and experts name reluctance of employers to hire inexperienced and unskilled youth. This applies particularly to young women, because there is a high probability that they will take vocations and sick leaves for child care. Conclusion. Solutions to the problem of unemployment cover a range of measures of integrated nature concerning the improvement of legislation of Ukraine, which should be brought into line with international norms and principles; introducing a mechanism to protect the domestic labor market because of the integration of Ukraine into the European space; preservation of effectively functioning employment and job creation; creating favorable conditions for entrepreneurship by unemployed; development of national and regional programs to combat youth unemployment.