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Article Technical Regulation in Economic Activity
Authors OLEKSANDR BEZUKH
Name of magazine Legal journal «Law of Ukraine» (Ukrainian version)
Issue 5 / 2018
Pages 30 - 45
Annotation

The modern market relations may not be established without forming a competitive environment, overcoming the barriers to trade, enhancing the competitiveness of national products, and ensuring efficient protection of the national consumer market from hazardous products. These tasks are resolved by means of the technical regulation system which, in accordance with the experience of other countries and laws and regulations adopted in Ukraine, actually consists of the standardization system and the system of conformity assessment and confirmation and metrology. The system of technical regulation formed in Ukraine is characterized by a certain inconsistency concerning requirements to goods and their circulation, and ambiguity with which legal professionals use the terminology; furthermore, the substance of technical regulation is studied mostly by specialists of technical and natural sciences, who do not consider technical regulation within the framework of market economic relations. This situation results from underestimation of this legal phenomenon within the framework of economic legal relations and in the context of the setup of conditions for turnover of goods on the market. The purpose of the article is to identify the position held by technical regulation in the system of economic law. The article establishes that technical regulation is a sub-branch of economic law regulating the entirety of relations associated with fulfillment of mandatory requirements (legal provisions) applicable to characteristics of products, or to production processes and methods related thereto, which arise in each chain of goods turnover on the market, as well as the rights and obligations of economic entities and the conditions of goods turnover, from entry of a product into circulation and further setup of surplus value with its use, up to its consumption or withdrawal from the market, and market supervision. Legal provisions regarding the fulfillment of mandatory requirements to characteristics of products, or to production processes and methods related thereto as provided for by statutory instruments on technical regulation, in case of occurrence of certain legal facts, give rise to complex legal relations which may ensue from contracts, facts of damage, breach of public economic law and order and economic competition, consumer protection etc. The author proves that statutory instruments on technical regulation establish certain technical and information requirements to economic entities, goods and conditions of their turnover on the market. Non-compliance with requirements of such statutory instruments on technical regulation annihilates the presumption of conformity of the goods to requirements of current law and forms the basis for preventing the access of a respective product for circulation on the market, or emergence of legal relations for consumer rights protection and protection of economic competition. It is established that understanding and application of the terminology in the technical regulation domain, including by the competent authorities of Ukraine, is contradictory, and this gives an impression of inconsistency with the technical regulation system of the European Union. In Ukraine, there is no classification and systematization of laws and regulations which have the actual status of technical regulations.

 

Keywords technical regulation; conformity assessment; goods turnover on the market; consumer rights protection; economic competition
References

List of legal documents 
 

Legislation 
1. Dyrektyva № 98/34/ES Evropeiskoho parlamenta y Soveta ES o protsedure predostavlenyia ynformatsyy v oblasty tekhnycheskykh standartov y rehlamentov, a takzhe pravyl okazanyia usluh v ynformatsyonnom obshchestve [Directive No. 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council Laying Down a Procedure for the Provision of Information in the Field of Technical Standards and Regulations and the Rules for the Provision of Services in Information Society] (Liuksemburh, 22 yiunia 1998 hoda). URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/994_b11 (accessed: 05.05.2018) (in Ukrainian). 
2. Hospodarskyi kodeks Ukrainy [The Economic Code of Ukraine]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 16 sichnia 2003 r. № 436-IV. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/ laws/show/436-15 (accessed: 05.05.2018) (in Ukrainian). 
3. Pro bezpechnist ta hihiienu kormiv [On Feedstuff Safety and Hygiene]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 21 hrudnia 2017 r. № 2264-VIII. http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/ laws/show/2264-19 (accessed: 05.05.2018) (in Ukrainian). 
4. Pro tekhnichni rehlamenty ta otsinku vidpovidnosti [On Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 15 sichnia 2015 r. № 124-VIII. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/124-19 (accessed: 05.05.2018) (in Ukrainian). 
5. Pro zahalnu bezpechnist nekharchovoi produktsii [On General Safety of Non-Food Products]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 2 hrudnia 2010 r. № 2736-VI. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2736-17 (accessed: 05.05.2018) (in Ukrainian). 
6. Pro zatverdzhennia Poriadku formuvannia ta vedennia bazy danykh pro tekhnichni rehlamenty [On the Approval of the Procedure for Setup and Maintenance of the Technical Regulations Database]: nakaz Ministerstva ekonomichnoho rozvytku i torhivli Ukrainy [Order of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine] vid 8 zhovtnia 2015 r. № 1282. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/ z1309-15 (accessed: 05.05.2018) (in Ukrainian). 
7. Reshenye № 768/2008/EC Evropeiskoho parlamenta y Soveta ES po ustanovlenyiu obshchykh pravyl torhovly tovaramy y otmene reshenyia Soveta Evropeiskoho Soiuza 93/465/EЭS [Decision No. 768/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Common Framework for the Marketing of Products, and Repealing Council Decision 93/465/EEC]. URL: http://zakon0.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/994_b42 (accessed: 02.04.2018) (in Russian).

8. Tsyvilnyi kodeks Ukrainy [The Civil Code of Ukraine]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 16 sichnia 2003 r. № 435-IV. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/ show/435-15 (accessed: 05.05.2018) (in Ukrainian). 
9. Uhoda pro asotsiatsiiu mizh Ukrainoiu, z odniiei storony, ta Yevropeiskym Soiuzom, Yevropeiskym spivtovarystvom z atomnoi enerhii i yikhnimy derzhavamy-chlenamy, z inshoi storony [The Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the One Part, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and Their Member States, on the Other Part]. URL: zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/984_011 (accessed: 05.05.2018) (in Ukrainian). 
10. Uhoda pro tekhnichni bariery u torhivli [Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade] vid 15 kvitnia 1994 r. URL: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/981_008 (accessed: 02.04.2018) (in Ukrainian).


Bibliography 
 

Journal articles 
11. Hamburh I, ‘Formy tekhnichnoho rehuliuvannia: pravove zakriplennia ta mekhanizm vprovadzhennia’ [‘Forms of Technical Regulation: Consolidation in Law and Implementation Mechanism’] (2015) 2 Pravo 29 (in Ukrainian). 
12. Ovcharenko R, ‘K voprosu o sootnoshenii evropeyskoy modeli tekhnicheskoy garmonizatsii i modeli tekhnicheskogo regulirovaniya, deystvuyushchey v stranakh ES’ [‘On the Issue of Correlation between the European Technical Harmonization Model and the Technical Regulation Model Applicable in the EU Countries’] (2007) 4 Ekonomіka і pravo 146 (in Ukrainian). 

Websites 
13. ‘Kratkaya istoriya razvitiya standartizatsii’ [‘Brief History of Standardization Development’] (Sankt-Peterburgskiy natsional’nyy issledovatel’skiy universitet informatsionnykh tekhnologiy, mekhaniki i optiki. Sistema distantsionnogo obucheniya) <http://de.ifmo.ru/bk_netra/page.php?dir=3&tutindex=1&index=55&layer=1> accessed 2 April 2018 (in Russian).
14. ‘Reiestr tekhnichnykh rehlamentiv’ [‘Register of Technical Regulations’] (Ministerstvo ekonomichnoho rozvytku i torhivli Ukrainu) <http://www.me.gov.ua/Documents/ List?lang=uk-UA&id=10f8850c-347e-43c9-a87a-b11a4787cdfd&tag=TekhnichniRegla menti> accessed 2 April 2018 (in Ukrainian).
15. ‘Tekhnicheskie barіery v torgovle’ [‘Technical Barriers to Trade’] (Vserossiyskaya akademiya vneshney torgovli Ministerstva ekonomicheskogo razvitiya Rossiyskoy Federatsii) accessed 2 April 2018 (in Russian). 
16. ‘Tekhnichni bariery v torhivli’ [‘Technical Barriers to Trade’] (Wikipedia) <https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B5%D1%85%D0%BD%D1%96%D 1%87%D0%BD%D1%96_%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%80%27%D1%94%D1%80%D0 %B8_%D0%B2_%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B3%D1%96%D0%B2%D0%BB %D1%96> accessed 2 April 2018 (in Ukrainian).
17. ‘Tekhnycheskoe rehulyrovanye, podtverzhdenye sootvetstvyia, standartyzatsyia’ [‘Technical Regulation, Conformity Assessment, Standardization’] (Sertykom) <http://www.certicom.kiev.ua/techregl.html> accessed 2 April 2018 (in Russian).

 

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