Journal articles on the topic 'Budget – Law and legislation – European Economic Community countries'

The peculiarities of legal support of excise taxation of energy products in the EU and Ukraine are investigated, in particular, the basic Directives of the Council of the EU in the field of specific excise taxation: Council Directive 2008/118/EC on the general excise duty regime Council Directive 2011/64/EU on the structure and rates of excise duty on tobacco products Council Directive 92/83/EEC on the harmonisation of excise duty structures on alcohol and alcoholic beverages; Council Directive 2003/96/EC on the restructuring of the Community system on the taxation of energy and electricity products and the Tax Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine “On the Electricity Market”. A comparative analysis of the excise tax rates on some energy products for the period before the termination or cancellation of martial law in the territory of Ukraine and those that were in effect before the introduction of martial law has been carried out. Attention is focused on the legislative peculiarities of the introduction of excise taxation of electricity in Ukraine and the fulfillment of Ukraine's obligations under the Treaty establishing the Energy Community and the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU on the implementation of acts of energy community legislation in the field of energy. The practice of collecting excise tax on electricity has been characterized, according to which during 2018-2020 the state budget received about UAH 13 billion of excise tax on electricity. The results of the activities of controlling bodies to ensure the completeness and timeliness of excise tax revenues on electricity have been analyzed, it was clarified that the work on providing explanations to taxpayers on the correctness of tax reporting (excise tax declarations) was not ensured. The factors influencing the implementation of Council Directive No. 2003/96/EC in Ukraine under martial law and post-war recovery are identified, in particular, the priority of protecting the Ukrainian energy market and minimizing the provision of energy products from the aggressor countries – the Russian Federation and Belarus; the need to expand energy and resource efficient technologies in the context of joining the European energy system ENTSO-E; postwar restoration of power grids etc. The problematic aspects and directions of ensuring harmonization of tax legislation of the EU and Ukraine in the field of excise taxation of energy products and electricity, which included mental, political, socio-economic, institutional and taxation, are outlined.

At the current stage of the development of society the problem of social protection and state support for people with disabilities is particularly relevant and requires reform and improvement. Ukraine, as a country aspiring to join the European Union, should take into account the best foreign experience of the leading countries of the world in the field of state policy to support people with disabilities and its implementation. The process of reforming the national healthcare system demonstrated the ineffective policy in this area, the high level of corruption and the inability to transform this system to the level of world standards of medical care, especially for people with disabilities. The problem of disability in Ukraine is becoming particularly acute. The goal of this article is to investigate the system of economic means of state administration of the rights of people with disabilities to healthcare, to identify the areas of budgetary management and the formation of a new mechanism of economic administration. Scientific analysis was carried out by using the method of systematic approach and analysis, which enabled us to study theoretical aspects of economic methods of state administration of the right of people with disabilities to healthcare, formation of the budget management in Ukraine for the economic security of the rights to healthcare, and features of the new mechanism of the economic administration of the right of people with disabilities to health care. It has been researched that along with administrative methods of state management of the right to health protection of people with disabilities the economic group of methods is important. These include programs of economic development of health care, rehabilitation programs for people with disabilities, implementation of pilot projects to change the mechanism of financial support for operative treatment, etc. Methods of regulating influence (indirect management) are becoming increasingly important, and economical methods of management belong to them. Implementation ensures that the financial and material interests of the management objects are satisfied through the activities of its subjects, which create favorable conditions for achieving the goals and objectives of management. For example, local self-government bodies, within the limits of their competence, can finance local programs for the development and support of community healthcare institutions. In 2019, a new mechanism of rehabilitation support for children with disabilities was introduced based on the principle of "money follows the people", which should ensure targeting, transparency and improve the quality of rehabilitation services. Resources are divided vertically among regional bodies, which divide budgetary funds among local bodies in proportion to the number of children who require rehabilitation measures, according to the place of their residence (location). The national legislation also reflects the norms that created the conditions for the implementation of the right to work of people with disabilities, as well as ratified Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the ILO Convention on professional rehabilitation. From the point of view of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine, the funds allocated by the state are extremely insufficient for the uninterrupted functioning of the medical system. In its budget memorandum for 2021 the ministry has allocated twice as much – 296 billion UAH, 225 billion UAH of which for the implementation of the medical guarantee program (which is 5% of GDP, as required by the Law of Ukraine "On State Financial Guarantees of Medical Services to Population"). But the proposals of the Ministry of Health both at the time of formation of the state budget and at the time of its approval were not taken into account. The requirement of the Law of Ukraine "On State Financial Guarantees of Medical Services to the Population" for the establishment of financing of the program of medical guarantees at the level of 5% of GDP was lengthened for one more year.

Despite continuous instability in the European Community (EC) its mayor countries Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy exhibit continuously economic growth and stability. According to the International Monetary Fund these European countries have - in this order - the highest gross domestic product in the European Community in 2012. In this article anti-avoidance legislation of - according to the gross domestic product - the four most important EC countries will be reviewed with reference to the tax differential to the thirty-four OECD Member Countries. The pivotal question is, therefore, to what extend can internal tax planning with mayor European countries be optimized by inclusion of anti-avoidance legislation. This article outlines the objectives and concepts of international tax planning with regard to anti-avoidance legislation and provides an overview of the concepts, laws and rules of anti-avoidance legislation in mayor EC Member Countries. After that the advantages and strategies of international tax planning with regard to anti-avoidance legislation in mayor EC Member Countries are deducted where an overview on anti-avoidance legislation of mayor EC Member Countries is provided - also with regard to new tax legislation - and locations for subsidiaries and for parent companies are reviewed. Finally, the concluding remarks are presented. Transfer pricing will not be reviewed here.

Ukraine, choosing its strategic course of integration into the European Union, took the time to accelerate the reform of various spheres of socio-political and economic life of the country, in particular, the sphere of tourism services, transforming it into the standards of the European Union. The world-wide experience of progressive management gives tourism the first place among other sectors of the economy in terms of exports of goods and services. In conditions of development of the Ukrainian state, tourism becomes an effective means of forming a market mechanism of management, the receipt of significant funds to the state budget, one of the forms of rational use of free time, conducting meaningful leisure, studying the history of the native land, attracting the general population to the knowledge of the historical and cultural heritage. Current experience and scientific research show that accelerated development of rural green tourism can play the role of a catalyst for structural adjustment of the economy, provide demographic stability and solve urgent socio-economic problems in rural areas. It is important for Ukraine to overcome the gap in this area and realize the existing rich tourism potential through an elaborate policy of state regulation, including at the regional level. One of the reasons for the rapid development of rural green tourism in Europe is the crisis in the agricultural sector. Today, the process of productivity and automation of agriculture leads to jobs reduction. In fact, in many rural regions of Europe, agriculture has ceased to be the most important form of land use and the most important activity of the rural community. The rural green tourism is closely linked with other types of tourism, primarily with recreational, cultural, specialized tourism types – relief, gastronomy, ethno-tourism, etc. All this allows rural tourism to be included in combined tours, increasing the demand for a traditional tourist product. The rural green tourism in Ukraine is a holiday of the inhabitants of the city in the countryside in guest rooms created by a village family on the basis of its own residential house and private plot. As entrepreneurial activity, rural green tourism develops rather heterogeneously in different regions of Ukraine. Systematization of motivational interests of the rural green tourism activation in the regions of Ukraine showed that the dominant motives for diversification of activities in agricultural sector in the current conditions of rural areas development are: increase of incomes of rural population and increase of employment level, the possibility of diversification of income sources of peasants, significant investments and additional training, opportunities for self-realization of rural inhabitants. Priority directions of development of green tourism in these regions in the near future should be: reception and accommodation of tourists; rental of tourist equipment; production and sale of tourist goods of folk crafts; provision of tourist services (bicycle, gastronomy, agrotourism, cultural and historical tourism, organization of recreational recreation, mountain and ecological tourism); organization of tasting and culinary excursions; active development of the hotel business, camping (construction of agricultural cottages, fishing houses, farmhouses, horse farms); organization of historical and ethnographic events; distribution of religious tours; providing a complex of widely distributed services (fishing, hunting, picking berries and mushrooms, medicinal plants, etc.); development and popularization of water sports (kiting, windsurfing). The research of the current conditions for the development of green tourism in the regions of Ukraine allowed to outline the area of the key problems that hinder the active expansion of this type of activity: - disorderly legislation on key aspects of tourism business regulation in rural areas; lack of a law regulating this type of activity; - low level of development of the infrastructure of the market of green tourism services and social infrastructure of the village; - outdated stereotypes of rural residents, which hinder the active development of the newest types of tourism industry, the pronounced unsystematic and irregular nature of services; - absence of state programs supporting development of green tourism and limited amount of their financial, consulting and information-marketing support; - low level of informatization and popularization of green tourism in the regions of Ukraine among the population of European countries; - lack of political stability and social tension in society, deterioration of the world image of Ukraine. Thus, Ukraine has a rather powerful potential for the development of green tourism as an alternative type of agribusiness in the regions of Ukraine. In the context of modern economic conditions, solving key problems of development of green tourism forms the fundamental framework for addressing the most important socio-economic issues of rural areas: overcoming unemployment, promoting employment, raising incomes and quality of life for rural inhabitants.

Description: The purpose of the article is to study theoretical and practical aspects of local government organization and activities in Eastern Europe. The subject of the article is the issues of legislative support of the financial and economic bases of functioning of the municipal authorities of the Eastern Europe Statesю Methodology. In the course of study general scientific and special methods were used, which are the means of scientific research. In particular, comparative legal method was used for the analysis of the norms of substantive law of Eastern European countries, scientific categories, definitions and approaches. Historical and legal method gave an opportunity to reveal the meaning of the concepts of «local budget», «local self-government», to highlight the development of scientific views on specific issues. System analysis method was applied for an integrated generalization of the features of each country under consideration. The system-structural method made it possible to determine the state and government objective factors in the financial and economic spheres. The results of the study. It is recognized that due to the relatively low share of income, the entire financial system of municipalities is unstable, as well as the economic conditions in which local self-government operates. Although the analysis showed that the size of municipal budgets gradually increased, in the end they do not correspond to the level of inflation in these countries Practical implications. To ensure the autonomy of local government, it is especially important to manage the own revenue base of the territories and reduce their dependence on subsidies from higher-level budgets. In our opinion, subsidies should cover only certain types of expenditures of either national or regional importance and ensure equalization of the financial situation of the territories. Value / originality. The analysis of the relevant legislation and legal literature of the countries in question allows us to conclude that the expenditure part of the minimum budget determined by the legislator is calculated according to the norms and standards established by representative higher authorities on the basis of the law and the available funds, while the revenues of the minimum budget should cover the minimum necessary expenses guaranteed by higher authorities.

AbstractThe organisation of waste management raises an important question: Who has access to waste - the public waste management services or private waste management companies ? The answer has important economic consequences, since waste management is a significant market. At the same time, environmental concerns have to be observed. The framework legislation of the European Community leaves the organisational structure of waste management to the national legislation of the Member States. However, under Community legislation waste is subject to the principle of the free movement of goods, which may be restricted on environmental grounds. Furthermore EU law draws a distinction between waste for disposal, for which shipment can be restricted more easily, and waste for recovery, which is subject to less stringent control procedures. Given the broad European framework, this article explores the national legislation in most EU countries. It aims to analyse the approach taken by the national legislators to find a way between public service and private autonomy. In conclusion, it seems clear that in the countries examined an important distinction is made between household and industrial waste. Only Germany has adopted the European distinction between waste for recovery and waste for disposal as a major criterion for the allocation of the waste streams between public and private entities, whereas in the other Member States this criterion only plays an insignificant, if any, role at all.

The mayor German language countries, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria exhibit continuously economic growth and stability. Germany is the engine of the European Community and it might be interested to organize a group of affiliated companies in a way where all speak German. In this article anti-avoidance legislation will be reviewed with reference to the tax differential to the thirty-four Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Member Countries. The pivotal question is, therefore, to what extent can internal tax planning with German language countries be optimized by inclusion of anti-avoidance legislation. This article outlines the primary corporate objective and key concepts of international tax planning with regard to anti-avoidance legislation and discusses the corporate income tax burden in the thirty-four OECD Member Countries analysing the tax differential as incentive in relation to transfer pricing, the reduction in ETR as the primary corporate objective and key concepts and the he importance of current and reliable information. After that anti-avoidance legislation in these mayor German language countries is presented and strategies of international tax planning with relation to these countries are developed. Afterwards this is evaluated from the OECD's perspective of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). Finally the concluding remarks are presented.

This contribution deals with the macroeconomic legal trends in the Eastern member states of the European Union, so called EU11: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The paper discusses the development from the 1990s to nowadays, emphasizing the initial changes and the consolidation after the financial crisis. Therefore, the fiscal policy bears a major attention: fiscal and budgetary stability, government debts, fiscal controls (auditing and independent fiscal councils), for a more comprehensive overview, some ports of the monetary policy will be examined: national banks and price stability. The main aim of the contribution is to confirm or disprove the hypothesis that there is any identifiable or verifiable correlation between the legislation and the macroeconomic trends: sustainable balanced budget and government debt, economic growth, inflation. The research is based on law and economics, especially law and finance methodology with quantitative analysis, because of the cross-discipline nature of the topic. The paper contains some comparative statistics to evaluate the certain results upon figures, because it is even important to match the legal provisions with the economic performance.

The European Union has recently enacted the Conflict Minerals Regulation, introducing new transparency requirements for importers of tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold from conflict-affected regions. Similar legislation has previously been enacted in the United States. The purpose of the new transparency requirements in both jurisdictions is to cut off funding for armed groups in conflict areas and thus reduce the suffering of the civil population, with particular reference to the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The criticism of the legislation centers on the costs to companies in the minerals supply chain. In this article it is argued that the costs to companies subject to the transparency requirements can be minimized with carefully crafted legislation. It is also concluded that progress in achieving the humanitarian objectives of the legislation is slower than expected, mainly due to the lack of participation in the transparency efforts by all actors in the supply chain. Successful transparency regulation has to be supported by a multitude of actors in the international community. Also, mineral supply chain transparency regulation in itself is unlikely to solve armed conflicts in resource-rich but poor countries. Such legislation only provides for one component in a multi-level approach including legislative, economic and political efforts by the international community.

Purpose This paper aims to analyse the evolution of European anti-money laundering discipline passing from the First Money Laundering Directive 91/308/EEC, that was only referred to banks and financial intermediaries, that has been furthermore extended to some activities and professions outside the financial sector. The research examines the different steps done buy Italian Legislation in the field of economic crime: at first Law n. 14/2003 of 3 February 2003 (Community Law 2002), they transposed the 2001 Directive 2001/97/EC and then the Law n. 56/2004 of 20 February 2004, that has implemented Directive 2001/97/EC. Now it is urgent to implement Directive 2005/60/EC that has extended the scope of the legislation, including the fight against the financing of terrorism and modified anti-money laundering obligations. Design/methodology/approach This paper deals with the Legislations of some European States (in particular UK and Italy) interpreting them by a comparative method. Findings This paper has put in clear some differences and some analogies between national legislations of different countries. Research limitations/implications In Italy, at first Law n. 14/2003 of 3 February 2003 (Community Law 2002), has transposed the 2001 Directive 2001/97/EC and then the Law n. 56/2004 of 20 February 2004, has implemented Directive 2001/97/EC. In 2005, Directive 2005/60/EC has extended the scope of the legislation, including the fight against the financing of terrorism and modified anti-money laundering obligations. Practical implications In the context of economic crime, capital investigations represent one of the most effective tools to fight the activities of organized crime in the phase of managing wealth illicitly produced and its immission in the circuit of the legal economy. Social implications The need of fighting economic crime must always be harmonized with the protection of right to privacy that has been acknowledged by Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights of 1950 as a fundamental right. Originality/value This paper develops the need to balance the right to privacy of every European citizen (Article 8 CEDU) with investigative power exercised by Public or Private Authorities, considering the possibility to comprise the first – if necessary – to allow the regular exercise of the second.

There is no sustainable economic development without a functioning rule of law. Besides sustainable economic policies like low interest rates, low inflation, low budget deficit, reasonable taxes and economic freedom for business development, the necessary ones for country’s economic growth are functioning of state institutions, support and development of reforms as well as successful fight against corruption.Corruption is a phenomena often encountered and spread in countries that have problems with rule of law as well as with judiciary system. Corruption manifestation is inevitable in circumstances when state institutions are weak. The phenomena is especially problematic in countries that go through transition periods since these countries are often characterized as nonefficient in fighting this phenomena1 . Countries in transition continue to have the image of countries with high level of corruption, which causes serious crisis from local opinion and continuous demand from international community due to the unsuccessful fight against this malevolence.World Bank considers corruption as the biggest obstacle in the fight for poverty eradication, since it undermines the rule of law, weakens state institutions and most of all it affects the poor. Politically, it undermines democracy and good governance, economic equal growth and development, as well as people’s trust in state institutions.Lately, several anti-corruption laws have been adopted in Kosovo, but they have not been implemented in practice and were not sufficient in fight against corruption. Kosovo’s long lasting dream of integrating in European Union, necessarily demands to built and functionalize anti-corruptive measures with priority, as a fundamental precondition for EU pre-accession process

Introduction. The conceptual foundations of state regulation of critical infrastructure of Ukraine are laid down in the Concept of creating a state system of critical infrastructure protection (2017). The legal basis for regulating this area is established by the Law of Ukraine “On Critical Infrastructure” (2021). Problem Statement. Russia's armed aggression has led to a major destruction of Ukraine's national infrastructure. Approaches to state regulation of its facilities have changed, the real possibilities of their financing at the expense of the state budget have narrowed, and the structure of state borrowings has been transformed. Purpose. To determine the features of state regulation of critical infrastructure of Ukraine in martial law, the main areas of financial support for its postwar recovery, taking into account the experience of member states of the European Union. Methods. Modern approaches to the analysis of critical infrastructure issues of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, specialized agencies of the European Commission are used. Methods of theoretical generalization, retrospective analysis, synthesis, grouping, description, comparison are used. Results. Approaches to state regulation of critical infrastructure facilities in wartime, real possibilities of their financing at the expense of the state budget are revealed. The improvement of the legislation applied in the EU aimed at increasing the sustainability of critical enterprises is analyzed. The main directions of financial support for the restoration and development of critical infrastructure of Ukraine in the postwar period are identified, taking into account the economic and fiscal policy of the EU. Conclusions. Increasing the role of external official creditors in the structure of government borrowing provides the dynamics of financing the urgent needs of the functioning of national infrastructure and addressing issues of social protection. At the same time grants of direct budget support alone cannot cover the state budget deficit in the medium and long term. Solving the problems of financing the restoration of critical infrastructure is possible by providing partner countries with guarantees to their companies to invest in Ukraine under the conditions of effective anti-crisis management.

This article discusses the competition regime as it applies to shipping or liner conferences and consortia under European Community law. The Commission is currently considering changing this regime. There are five sections to this article. Section I is a factual introduction to shipping conferences and consortia, what they are, and how they operate. Section II deals with the competition law regime as it applies to certain shipping cartels, briefly highlighting the background, as well as the substance, of the relevant legislation and jurisprudence. Section III discusses the economic effects of these rules, as well as considering their effect on developing countries; it also examines whether or not these rules achieve their underlying objectives. Section IV takes the conclusions of Section III and asks whether, and where appropriate how, these should impact upon the substantive content of the rules, as discussed in Section II. Section V concludes.

In 2002 the international community adopted a new system of hazard classification and labeling of chemical products, which is recommended to be implemented by all the Member- countries of the United Nations through national legislation and international acts. Within the frame of the implementation of this decision, in 2015 the amendments were made to the Directive of the European Community of June 24, 1982, № 82/501/EEC on the prevention of major industrial accidents, and to the United Nations Convention onthe prevention of major industrial accidents, and a little later to the national legislation of the European countries establishing measures on preventing major accidents. In 2017, the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union adopted the technical regulation on the safety of chemical products, which establishes classification criteria that are completely identical to the criteria for the system of hazard classification and labeling of chemical products. Entry into force of the technical regulation of the Eurasian Economic Union will lead to the need for amending all theregulatory legal acts and regulations that contain regulations based on the classification of chemical products, including in the Federal Law № 116-FZ of July 21, 1997, On industrial safety of hazardous production facilities. The task of harmonizing the legislation on industrial safety with the international documents in terms of the classification of chemicals was planned to be solved when developing a new law on industrial safety. During the discussion, the developers encountered different approaches to the definition of classes of hazardous substances, the analysis of which became the subject of this article. The authors formulated proposals that can be used at the next round of harmonization of the Russian legislation on industrial safety with the international documents. When preparing proposals with classes and lists of hazardous chemicals for use in the industrial safety legislation, a comparison was made not only of the definitions of classes of chemicals in different documents, but also of their quantities, which are the criteria for qualifying objects as hazardous production facilities. It is noted that the term «flammable liquids», used in 116-FZ, practically does not occur in the international classifications, therefore, when developing new documents, it was proposed not to use it.

Introduction. The Ukraine’s integration into the European community is impossible without learning the experience of European countries in many spheres. Social responsibility of business becomes a significant element in strengthening the competitiveness of our enterprises and the state in general on the world level. The development of socially responsible practices can influence not only the society, but also business representatives themselves, namely: improving the image of the company, increasing the number of consumers, attracting and retaining more skilled personnel, etc. In Ukraine, the process of development of social responsibility of business circles has already begun, but it is still not enough. The state can play a significant role in the development of social practices. This scientific research is dedicated to the study of the experience of European governments in the sphere of social responsibility. The purpose. The article aims is to determine the directions of the state policy of Ukraine for the development of social and economic responsibility of entrepreneurship on the basis of European countries experience. Results. The basic world models of social responsibility of business have been investigated. The experience of European countries on state regulation in this area has been systematized. On the basis of the conducted research, we have proposed directions of the state policy in the field of regulation of social and economic responsibility of entrepreneurship in Ukraine, namely: drafting a law on social responsibility, introducing changes in tax legislation in the field of preferential taxation, increasing attention to non-financial reporting as a source of information on social company initiatives and the construction of national ratings.

In the February 2014 issue of the EC Tax Review, the author compared the anti-avoidance legislation in the mayor EC Member Countries Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy and suggested some international tax planning strategies - without regard to transfer pricing (part 1). The author now considers transfer pricing involving these mayors EC Member Countries Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Italy and suggests further transfer pricing strategies also with regard to the up-to-date CIT rates in OECD countries (part 2). As stated, despite continuous instability in the European Community (EC) its mayor countries Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy exhibit continuously economic growth and stability. According to the International Monetary Fund these European countries have - in this order - the highest gross domestic product in the European Community in 2012. In this article transfer pricing rules of - according to the gross domestic product - the four most important EC Member Countries will be reviewed with reference to the OECD's perspective of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and to the up-to-date tax differential to the thirty-four OECD Member Countries. The pivotal question is, to what extent can internal tax planning with mayor EC Member Countries be optimized by inclusion of transfer pricing. This article outlines the primary corporate objective and key concepts of international tax planning with regard to transfer pricing and discusses the corporate income tax burden in the thirty-four OECD Member Countries analysing the tax differential as incentive in relation to transfer pricing, the reduction in ETR as the primary corporate objective and key concepts and the he importance of current and reliable information. After that transfer pricing in the mayor EC Member Countries Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Italy is presented and transfer pricing strategies with relation to mayor EC Member Countries are developed. Afterwards this is evaluated from the OECD's perspective of BEPS. Finally the concluding remarks are presented.

The purpose of this article is to determine the prospects and economic consequences of the introduction of criminal liability for violation of customs regulations and to study foreign experience in this matter. The closer Ukrainian legislation is to the legislation of neighboring countries in the customs sphere, the more effective the fight against cross-border crime will be. The aim of this research is to compare the attitude to smuggling of goods in different countries and to reveal the future effect of criminal liability for smuggling of goods. Research methodology. In this paper a theoretical research method was used. We were studying published academic journals, legislation and databases. Correlation analysis method was used to determine the strength of the relationship between the smuggling liability and budget revenues. Also we used the results of the questionnaire between the professional exporters and importers. The result of this study is the conclusion that granting smuggling the status of a criminal offense will give more opportunities for Ukrainian law enforcement agencies to more thoroughly investigate this type of crime, will give more opportunities for international cooperation and cooperation in combating cross-border crimes. Practical implications of launching the criminal liability for smuggling of goods will give our country the chance to widen the borders of smuggling investigation, to fulfill the state budget with increasing customs revenues and to prevent dishonest enterprisers from smuggling of goods instead of goods’ pure declaring. Value/originality. After the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the State Budget of Ukraine stopped receiving customs revenues because of international trade blocking. Still Ukraine as a state must think of renovation of its economy and trade, that’s why customs regulations and violation of customs rules are still very important for fiscal policy of the country. Researching of criminal liability for violation of customs rules is not the new theme, but making comparison to European legislation and the US experience contributes to the developing of Ukraine national research school of customs affairs with the relevant data, examples of customs regulations and prospects for the national economy.

The article is devoted to the study of foreign experience in legal regulation of fixed-term employment contracts. Fixed-termemployment contracts should be considered as one of the earliest and, accordingly, the oldest forms of non-standard employment. Tur -ning to the concept of the application of fixed-term employment contracts in Ukraine in the near future, it seems appropriate to consider the possibility of their further development through the prism of studying European experience. Indeed, in many European countriesthe fixed-term contracts are quite common and therefore analysis of both positive and negative examples of their legal regulation willbe useful for the future development of labour legislation in Ukraine.The article features an analysis of the relevant legislation of the United Kingdom, Estonia, Italy, Poland and France. It is concludedthat the membership of these states in the European Union has had a significant impact on the evolution of national labour le -gislation. This also applies to the United Kingdom, which had been part of this economic and political union for a long time.The transposition of EU legislation into national law by these countries predetermines the existence of common features betweenthem in the legal regulation of fixed-term employment contracts. This common features include: clear time limits of the employmentcontract, maximum allowable number of renewals enshrined in law, compliance with the principle of non-discrimination, etc.In turn, the implementation of fixed-term employment relationships in each country differs in its uniqueness, which is due to thedomestic tradition of their implementation. For example, in the United Kingdom, the dismissal of an employee due to the expiration ofthe employment contract is considered through the lens of fairness of the employer’s actions, while in Italy the number of fixed-termemployment contracts with a particular employer cannot exceed 30 %.The above circumstances should be taken into account by Ukraine when reforming labour legislation. Indeed, the need to implementCouncil Directive 1999/70/EC is clearly provided for in clauses 1139 and 1140 of the Action Plan for the implementation of theAssociation Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and theirmember states, on the other hand, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1106, of 25.10.2017.

The study examines the mechanism of real estate taxation. The current state of their functioning in Ukraine is analysed in detail. Problems of legal and regulatory nature are also investigated. The main features that characterize this tax, both in Ukrainian and Polish legislation, are also described. In addition the feasibility of reforming the tax base in the Ukrainian legislation is analyzed. Analyzed the experience of foreign countries, and held a parallel to the functioning of the tax in Poland, as an example, one of Europe’s economically developed countries. This article focuses on tax on immovable property. The introduction of real estate tax in Ukraine has followed a difficult path. The authors emphasize that development, and global development, is not possible without the socio-economic development of the country. In the authors’ view, development must begin in the cities, namely with the effective formation of local budgets. Because the financial resources of the cities have a direct influence on the solution of social and economic problems. The problem of deficiency of financial resources of cities, is a frequent problem on the territory of Ukraine. Therefore, we consider it necessary to pay attention to the European practice of countries that have a rational approach to the redistribution of income, with the help of certain tax rates, or by applying the benefits provided by the legislation. Statistical data shows that property tax has been introduced in about 130 coun-tries, thereby providing a significant part of budget revenues. The study is written using the descriptive method on the basis of administrative court jurisprudence and tax law literature.

Problem setting. In the context of the ongoing European integration processes, the issue of creating a modern, optimal and effective system of measures of state financial control over the activities of economic entities is becoming increasingly important for Ukraine. First of all, it is necessary to clearly and coherently regulate public financial control, in particular, its types, methods, forms, procedures, as well as the legal status of public financial control in order to prevent violations of financial legislation by economic entities and promote harmonization of the national economy. with the economic systems of other developed countries. Analysis of recent research. Some problems of legal regulation of state financial control have been studied by such scientists as: L. Voronova, O. Grachova, O. Dmytryk, M. Kucheryavenko, T. Latkovska, O. Semchyk etc. At the same time, as we have already noted, the imperfection of legislative regulation (the presence of conflicts and gaps in the regulation of public financial control), the imperfection of the system of public financial control and other factors necessitate further research and proposals for improving existing legislation. in this area. Thus, the purpose of this article is to analyze the current state of legal regulation of public financial control in Ukraine. Article’s main body. The article considers the legal regulation of financial control over the activities of economic entities in Ukraine. The need to improve the current legislation in the field of financial control was emphasized. It was emphasized that the legislator now prohibits tax audits for all taxpayers, regardless of their division into large, small and medium. Excluding large taxpayers from the list of taxpayers covered by the moratorium during the quarantine period without available grounds, in fact, violates the principles of tax law. Conclusions. It is emphasized that the relationship between business entities and regulatory authorities should be as flexible as possible and implemented in the form of public-private partnership. It is proposed to amend Art. 26 of the Budget Code of Ukraine and to consolidate the definition of “control over compliance with budget legislation”, as well as to determine the forms (methods) of its implementation.

The article is devoted to the issue of harmonization of the legislation of Ukraine and the European Union on geographical indications. The study of the influence of the European experience in the field of protection of geographical indications is explained by the systemic reform of this institution in Ukraine. The protection of geographical indications is becoming increasingly important in the context of a gradual increase in trade between Ukraine and the European Union. Based on the analysis of the correlation of the EU law with the legislation of its member-states in the field of protection of geographical indications, a forecast of the development of this legal field in Ukraine is provided and the current tasks related to its revision and development are determined. The system of protection of geographical indications of the European Union is constantly adapted to the needs of the market. Current trends in its development include the gradual merging of the sovereignty of member states in the field of intellectual property protection, which in the long run may lead to the disappearance of relevant areas of national legislation of individual countries. Therefore, Ukraine must adapt to this trend as soon as possible at the legislative level. The ratio of sources of national legislation of Ukraine and acts of the European Union indicates that the latter significantly affect the development and functioning of the relevant legal field of Ukraine. Firstly, the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, on the other hand, is an element of the national legal system and can be directly applied to the relevant legal relationship. Secondly, the acts of the European Union on the protection of geographical values determine the directions and parameters of the development of national legislation of Ukraine in the relevant field. In particular, the harmonization of the legislation of Ukraine to the European Union standards on geographical indications has led to amendments to the Civil Code, Economic Code and the adoption of a new version of the law “On legal protection of geographical indications”.

In this article the author analyses the evolution of complex corpus of legislation concerning the freedom of movement for persons in European Union Law. The article deals with the subject in two aspects: the first part of the analysis considers the conceptual development of free movement of persons by way of deliberation of building-up the authority of Union in that area, and the second part analyses the contents of the right of the Union citizens to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member State. The freedom of movement for people includes the right of Union citizens to enter, move and reside in another Member State and, in that context prohibition of any discrimination based on nationality. Conceived originally as primarily an economic phenomenon, the free movement of persons was closely linked to the pursuit of an occupation. It was the mobility of human resources as a factor of production, which inspired the chapters of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957) relating to the free movement of workers, freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services. In that sense, freedom of movement is a part of a wider concept, that of the common/internal market. Since then, through the combined effect of secondary legislation and the case law of the Court of Justice, the concept has been broadened and it tends, from the Maastricht Treaty (1992), to form one of the fundamental and individual rights of Union citizens generally. Also, the amendments of EEC Treaty, which were made by the Single European Act (1985) and specially by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and the Treaty of Nice (2001), have formalised the external aspect of freedom of movement. Namely, it was recognised that freedom of movement for persons could not take place at the expense of security, protection against crime and illegal immigration. The abolition of internal controls has generated the need of the transferring checks to the external frontiers of the Union and, in this connection, the gradual establishment of an area of freedom, security and justice. In the first part of the article the author presents and analyses the development of the Union power in the policies of freedom of movement: in facilitating of free movement of people as a principle of the common/internal/single market, in achievement of the right to free movement for Union citizens, and also in the fields related to the external aspect of freedom of movement, or, actually, the issues pertaining to visas, asylum and immigration. The second part presents the specific contents of freedom of movement for persons that consists of the corpus of individual rights enjoyed by Union citizens on the territories of EU Member States that are not countries of their origin. These are the right to entry and residence and the right to engagement in gainful activity as well as the related social rights. This part of the article also explores the freedom of movement restriction regime as well as the corresponding Union legislation in preparation.

In the article are accented attention on that the modern state of economy of Ukraine is in the crisis state.. In these conditions, there is an urgent need to save budget funds spent on ensuring the activities of public authorities and local governments, and the implementation of their powers. This problem is partially solved by the legislation on public procurement, which should serve as a means of economic growth in Ukraine. In the foreign member states of the World Trade Organization Agreement, the participant of which Ukraine is, public procurement is used primarily to develop innovation and improve the quality of life; the most popular means of innovation in the European Union, which is not yet on the market, are pre-commercial procurement, which is carried out in order to research and develop new innovative solutions. Unfortunately, in Ukraine such projects does not develop and public purchases are used exceptionally with the aim of budgetary cost effectiveness, during realization of purchases for satisfaction of current necessities of public and organs of local self-government authorities, that not in a complete measure answers their setting. An analysis of the current legislation of Ukraine on public procurement provides grounds for the conclusion that it applies to all utilities without exception, including those created for commercial activities and profit in the interests of the local community. However, proving the fact, that the economic activity of enterprise has exclusively commercial in nature and is not carried out at the expense of the budget, releases the municipal commercial enterprise from the obligation to comply with the public procurement procedure established by the Law of Ukraine “On Public Procurement” services. The need for public procurement has a negative impact on the economic performance of utility companies, as in many cases it forces them to purchase cheap goods and services that do not meet the company’s requirements for functionality or quality. Suchsituation reduces the interest in development of communal commercial enterprises and encourages owners to liquidate them, which creates the preconditions for the emergence of corrupt schemes to withdraw funds from local budgets. With the aim of conditioning for effective realization by the business communal enterprises of economic activity in interests of local communities, the leadingout of these enterprises offers the author of the article from under the action of legislation of Ukraine about public purchases. Key words: purchases for budgetary funds, public procurements, communal commercial enterprises.

Background: The advocacy of competition is a modern civilisational mechanism of cooperation, which balances private and public interests in economic activity and realises the functions of state management and control of economic activity, ensuring reasonable distribution of public goods. Competition is a fundamental driving force that determines the course of economic processes and contributes to the growth of economic prosperity and innovation in society. Its provision, protection, and development are among the main priorities of state economic policy in general and competition policy in particular. The purpose of this article is a comparative legal analysis of the advocacy of competition in different countries. This study will also identify the peculiarities of the use of advocacy tools in these places. Methods: In studying the proposed problem, the following methods were used: general philosophical and general scientific (dialectical, systemic, formal-logical, etc.); universal (induction, deduction); special-scientific (formal-legal, comparative law); interpretation of the rules, etc. One of the main methods used is the comparative method for researching the common and distinctive features of the advocacy of competition in the EU, USA, Mexico, the Republic of South Africa, and Ukraine. Results and Conclusions: The results show that countries with advanced economies have approached advocacy of competition gradually after more than a century of anti-monopoly competition legislation. In post-transformational economies, we see the formation of competitive policy principles activated after independence and the transition to market-based business practices. The globalisation of international trade relations leads to the need to implement complex competition advocacy programs and unify norms at the level of individual states and unions. Advocacy of competition remains important as a tool of self-regulation of economic activity. The European vector of Ukraine’s development caused the emergence of new mechanisms of interaction between the state, the individual, and society. Having chosen to strive for European integration, Ukraine began to build a new model of cooperation between all market participants, the introduction of which was based on the provisions of the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the EU, the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, on the other hand, using implementation mechanisms of both individual norms and entire institutions of public-private partnership. The implementation of competition advocacy mechanisms in Ukraine is applied using the mechanisms of the analogy of individual norms and tools of competition policy. The formation of new good competitive practices is connected with russia’s war.

ABSTRACTPublic enterprises in the Federal Republic of Germany are about average for all nonsocialist countries and markets are more heavily regulated than in the United States. Compared to American deregulation and British privatization, there have been few developments in the Federal Republic. Why? In the last ten years new schools of thought have provided a stronger normative foundation for and a stronger positive explanation against deregulation and privatization in Germany in the near future. The German political debate on deregulation and privatization is characterized by three institutional peculiarities. Major steps to deregulate or privatize economic sectors require legislation, which is influenced by political parties. Trade unions exert a strong influence on the major parties and are opposed to privatization and deregulation. The European Community forces some deregulation upon the Federal Republic in order to liberalize service sectors.

This article is devoted to the analysis of international and legal cooperation in the area of labor migration in the Eurasian Economic Community and the Eurasian Economic Union. The authors study background for the creation and history of the Common Economic Space and the Customs Union, one of the main purposes of which is the creation and operation of a common labour market. The authors perform the analysis taking into account similarities and differences of legal regulation of the issue under consideration in the European Union, and make comparison. The authors point out to the continuity problems of labour migration legal regulation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, including harmonization of legislation on labour migration of the Union’s member countries. The authors study the institutional system of the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasian Economic Union) and powers of institutions in the field of labour migration, indicate the presence of special migration authorities in the EurAsEC and in the Eurasian Economic Union. Provisions of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union devoted to labour migration are analyzed. The authors note the probability that the law harmonization function will be implemented in the Eurasian Economic Union not through model laws but through international treaties and decisions of the Union’s institutions. The authors assume that the Eurasian Economic Union will work out the desired integration model, based not only on political and economic interests, but which will take into account civilizational peculiarities of the Eurasian region.

It was found that today Ukraine is not ready to introduce a decentralized system due to shortcomings in budget planning and non-transparency of public financial management. In case of its introduction in the management system of EU funds of Ukraine, it is advisable to develop a preparatory stage for a decentralized management system of EU assistance resources, which will ensure an independent audit of Ukraine's external assistance management system. Based on the results of the audit, it is necessary to determine the responsible state institution that will carry out the overall coordination of the decentralized system in the subsequent stages of its implementation. An urgent challenge for modern Ukraine is the ability to develop a national research and innovation strategy in line with the best EU models. To date, Ukraine lacks a comprehensive systemic vision for the development of science, technology and innovation, and dialogue with civil society and the expert community is somewhat of a formality. The plans and proposals submitted by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture need to be properly coordinated. After all, such inconsistency of actions of government structures is also reflected in the quality and effectiveness of the legislation of Ukraine, increases the time of adoption of laws in the Verkhovna Rada. In this regard, cooperation between the three committees in particular needs to be significantly improved, namely: the Committee on Education and Science, the Committee on Informatization and Communications and the Committee on Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship. Promoting cooperation and integration with the European Union will allow the citizens of the respective partner countries to adapt European values faster, increase people's awareness of the experience and prospects of EU countries, and significantly strengthen their self-identification as Europeans. The importance of the role of the Eastern Partnership in security issues for both the EU and the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership should be emphasized. Keywords: European Union, European integration, Eastern Partnership, regional cooperation, Association Agreement, public administration.

Gambling as a form of economic activity exists in almost all countries of the world. Only the question of the form of its implementation is relevant: it can be an illegal activity, or an activity permitted by law in one or another country. Gambling is a very profitable business. For example, from January to October 2021, the gross revenue from games in the United States of America was 43.43 billion dollars [2]. Income from gambling is an important source of replenishment of the state budget of each country, which is why most states have legalized this type of activity by establishing mandatory gambling licensing and established requirements for gambling organizers. The article carries out a systematic analysis of the provisions of the legislation on gambling in a number of foreign countries, compares their experience and the basics of the mechanism of implementation of this activity in Ukraine. In particular, through the systematization of the elaborated regulatory legal acts on gambling in foreign countries, the main features of three models of conducting gambling business - British, American and European - were highlighted and outlined. The method of comparing models of gambling organizations makes it possible to highlight aspects of the national model that need improvement by adopting foreign experience. The most controversial is the prohibition of foreign representatives from conducting activities related to the organization of gambling in Ukraine, since such a ban significantly reduces the percentage of revenues to the state budget from the activities of world-famous gambling giants. The article examines the main aspects of the regulation of gambling in Ukraine and the world in the context of requirements for their organizers. The domestic and foreign models of regulation of the organization of the gambling industry were analyzed and their problematic aspects and positive practices were highlighted.

The presented work is devoted to highlighting the processes of evolution of the EU sports law and policy, identifying facts and events that have contributed to the development of communitarian regulation in this area and establishing trends and directions significant for Ukraine in the European integration aspect. Integration processes, first purely economic and then increasingly multidirectional, could not but affect this vital sphere of social life on the European continent and internationally. Sport is an essential element of the self-realization of a human personality and a sphere of economic activity. It is also a form of international communication, cross-cultural communication, the assertion of authority, and a positive image of countries. Also, sports can be an instrument of political and diplomatic influence or even a means of responding to violations of international law and order. The evolution of EU sports policy and law has been a difficult and long way in the general context of European integration processes. Initially, the sport was not covered by Community law and the spheres of competence of the Communities. However, since the 60s of the last century, the foundations of the European sports model began to form. Implementing the Council of Europe’s standards in the Member States’ practice was essential in forming this model. The European sports model implies, on the one hand, the unity of values and sports traditions of Europe. On the other hand, it is based on considering the national characteristics of European countries, pluralism, and diversity of the organization of sports relations and activities of non-governmental sports organizations. To the main features of the European sports model, which have developed historically and are preserved to this day, the author refers voluntary participation in sports competitions, non-discrimination, democracy, solidarity, compliance with the rules of “fair play,” good governance, and prevention of corruption and abuse. The article characterizes the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the creation of the EU acquis in the field of sport. CJEU developed the legal criteria system for extending communitarian rules and principles to the economic aspects of sports activities, including regulating relations with non-state actors such as national Olympic committees, sports federations, etc. Relevant CJEU decisions are analyzed in the study, approaches to the application of EU competition rules in sports, as well as to labor relations, freedom of movement of workers, and the provision of services, are revealed. Further integration and reform of the EU under the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty led to the emergence of a sector of the EU policy in the field of sports and several regulations and organizational measures aimed at realization of this policy. Implementation of the relevant standards in the national legislation, introduction of the best practices of governance in the field of sports in the state policy and activities of non-governmental sports organizations are important components of the implementation of Ukraine’s European integration aspirations, fulfillment of obligations under the Association Agreement and prospectively – the criteria for the EU membership.

Problem setting. The development of social relations, the economic well-being of the population and the stable social structure of any state in the present circumstances are conditioned by a series of factors, one of which is the development of innovative infrastructure. One of the most important directions of development of the economic sector of our country was the formation of an innovative model of the economy, which puts to law the new tasks of clarifying the purpose and social value of law as a regulator of social relations. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The current state of the study of the selected issues indicates that the sources from which public-law organizations are investing innovative activities of small and medium-sized innovative entrepreneurship in the EU are insufficient. At the same time, the state policy of the EU countries in the scientific and technical sphere is realized through the use of various instruments, which include: legislation, tax policy, size and nature of the allocation of budget funds, including for the implementation of works in priority areas, the formation and maintenance of infrastructure, personnel, etc. Target of research is to identify the public and legal means of investing small and medium innovative entrepreneurship in the EU. Article’s main body. In the EU, the innovative component of public policy encompasses the scope of national scientific institutions (institutes, research centers, university laboratories, etc.). There are government programs that receive partial funding from the state budget. The state is guided by different criterias when deciding on the financing of specific works. First, the prospect of each specific direction is evaluated from the point of view of preserving the country’s achieved position on the world market in the future. Second, the recognition at the governmental level of innovation as a vital factor of economic development, the conduct of a broad government company on the problems of innovation. The current state of regulatory support suggests that structural funds such as the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund should be considered as the main public sources of investment for innovative enterprises. In particular, such funds are implementing EIC Pathfinder Pilot, FET Innovation Launchpad, EIC Transition to Innovation Activity, EIC Accelerator, Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) etc. Conclusions and prospects for the development. In the EU, the investment of small and medium enterprises is not homogeneous, but a large part of them, despite the large number of investment support tools for such companies, face significant challenges in accessing investment resources. Developing a successful pan-European policy requires an indepth understanding of the problems and specifics of financing the innovation activities of small and medium innovative enterprises in EU Member States.

The article considers gender discrimination in the field of labor relations in the United Kingdom (UK) in the pre-covid period. In the past decades, the Western European countries have made the most significant progress in achieving gender equality in various fields, including labor relations, and became the world leader in this area. However, despite all the efforts of the international community, no country has achieved a full gender equality, and Great Britain is no exception. The authors argue that the British anti-discrimination legislation (before leaving the European Union) was based on international acts and conventions. For a long time, there were acts and laws prohibiting discrimination in the labor market, which seriously hindered the implementation of an effective anti-discrimination policy in the sphere of labor relations. It was not until 2010 that the law on equality was passed to replace all previous laws and regulations and to provide an exhaustive list of criteria for prohibiting discrimination. As a result, Great Britain began to develop a rather strict national anti-discrimination legislation in the field of labor relations. Thus, in the past decades, the UK has been achieving gender equality in the economic sphere at a faster pace than the average European Union country. The study shows a steady decline in the gender wage gap in the UK over the past two decades, which may be considered one of the countrys most significant achievements in fighting gender discrimination in the labor market. However, there is still a number of serious challenges: a relatively low female labor force participation and employment rate, a gender wage gap and income gap, horizontal and vertical segregation, a gender gap in postgraduate education, and a significant gender gap in time spent on family responsibilities. Age discrimination presents a special problem in the sphere of labor relations in Great Britain. In the European Union, the first laws prohibiting age discrimination were adopted only in the 2000s, and in the UK - in 2006. This problem still remains extremely acute for the labor market, since age discrimination in the UK ranks third among the most common grounds for discrimination - after gender and disability.

The present article deals with the decentralization reform in Ukraine, definition of basic concepts, in particular, «decentralization», «local self-government», «territorial community» has been installed, on the European Charter of Local Self-Government, as a fundamental international normative document, proclaiming the foundations of decentralization has been focused attention, the main conceptual document in the field of decentralization reform at the national level has been defined, problematic issues of decentralization reform implementation in Ukraine has been isolated, in the absence of a proper mechanism of legal regulation has been focused attention, after all, the new administrative-territorial system is not prescribed in the Constitution of Ukraine, on the inconsistency of the publicly announced goals of decentralization reform with the real actions of the authorities within the reform, contradictions regarding the legal status of the prefect in the system of renewed local self-government mechanism, irrationality of association of some territorial communities, legal unregulation of land decentralization procedure has been focused attention, negative impact of the consolidation of settlements, optimization of the network of medical institutions on life in territorial communities has been installed, issues of land decentralization and its consequences for citizens has been analyzed, bring in line the mechanism of legal regulation of issues related to decentralization reform, including, make appropriate changes to the Basic Law, adopt the Law «On the Principles of Administrative and Territorial Organization of Ukraine» and other legal acts necessary for the implementation of the reform has been suggested, on the need to bring national legislation into line with the European system of legal regulation has been emphasized, on the need to learn the experience of foreign countries in the field of decentralization reform has been focused attention, the expediency of revising the mechanism of community formation, which should be objective and consistent with the principle of economic efficiency has been installed, prospects for further research on the topic of decentralization reform in Ukraine has been defined.

Abstract In general the Swiss cartel law, which is based on the principle of abuse, is considered quite mild.The Italian law, instead, follows the model of the European Community legislation, as do the French and the Spanish laws, which have been revised recently.A comparison between the Swiss and the Italian laws, in spite of the basic differences inspiring their philosophies, may be nonetheless useful, especially if one considers that usually regulations about cartels leave large discretionary powers to the authorities responsible for their implementation.The first Swiss law regulating cartels, which was introduced in 1962, had two main weaknesses: its scope was quite restrict, because it could only apply to horizontal cartels, and competition criteria for the evaluation of market agreements had a minor role. The decisive criterion was derived by an «economic and social budget», by which it was possible to justify whatever limitations to competition on the basis of any possible advantage for any social group.A new and more noteworthy law was introduced in Switzerland in 1985. Though it is also based on the abuse principle, so that behaviour of whatever kind is not prohibited, its scope of application is much larger. In addition to horizontal, the new law deals also with vertical aggreements, with abuse of a dominant position and also with mergers which, however, are a field where possibilities to intervene are very limited.The second and important aspect of the new law refers to the criteria for evaluating whether a specific agreement on competition can be judged positively or not. Though the dominant criterion still refers to the «economic and social consequences», the law also assumes that competition is the best protection for the general welfare. This new criterion was the basis for important decisions dealing with competition, and especially for the elimination of cartels in such sectors as banks and insurance companies.In spite of the more serious attitude toward competition taken by the Swiss legislation, the political climate about competition in Switzerland is still quiet.On a subject as competition policy, which always implies some discretionary margins, it is always necessary to distinguish between the legal rules as such and the outcomes of their implementation. The Swiss competition law, for istance, is a good example of a law which could allow a serious competition policy. However, the Swiss competition policy is not so severe as it could be, for the simple reason that the responsible authorities have a too limited staff, due to the fact that, during the Seventies, the Swiss Parliament decided to stop hiring federal employees. Consequently, now the officials working for the implementation of the Swiss competition policy are seven, exactly as they were in the Sixties, when the legislation on competition was very mild.Shortage of staff arises particular difficulties for a competition system which, as that of the Swiss law, is based on the principle of abuse. This is true in particular for horizontal cartels, not prohibited per se in Switzerland, which requires careful investigations.However, apart from this case of «classic» cartels, the distinction between systems based on prohibition and systems based on abuse should not be too emphasized. Indeed, the other cases of restrictive practices, with few exceptions, are subject to evaluations which do not depart too much from the principle of abuse or, as the Americans call it, the «rule of reason».This is true for the vertical agreements as well as for the abuse of a dominant position.The experience with the Swiss legislation shows that a competition law based on abuse can be the basis for a serious policy, also with regard to horizontal cartels (as it was demonstrated by the elimination of the bank and insurance cartels).However, systems based on abuse require more resources and more time than those based on prohibition, whose application does not normally require to prove that certain kinds of behavior are harmful.A correction toward a more efficient system derives from the European Community legislation, which for Switzerland is more important than national legislation. A great part of the restrictive agreements by the Swiss undertakings has been under the evaluation of the EEC authorities.As far as the Italian law is concerned, it appears that it can neither be considered as entirely «prohibitive», nor as based on abuse only. On a first impression the Italian law follows the prohibition approach, at least for horizontal and vertical cartels, which are banned by art. 2. But the exemptions listed in art. 4 open the way to a large number of cases to be judged one by one, through investigations that may not always be very simple.A more important aspect is that the law does not explain whether the exemptions provided in art. 4 must be considered as legal exceptions or whether their application requires the previous approval by some bodies. The second interpretation would support the prohibition approach, whilst the first would favour the abuse approach.Article 85 of the EEC Treaty arose the same difficulties, solved by regulation 17/62, introducing a duty of notification for restrictive agreements, and establishing the rule that cases not explicitly exempted from the general ban would be prohibited following art. 85, paragraph 3. According to the Italian law, however, notifications are voluntary. The future regulations for the implementation of the Italian law might, hopefully, clarify this very important issue.

The article is devoted to the study of the range of responsibilities of man and citizen in Ukraine and the European Union, the formation of an approach to their classification. The following range of human responsibilities in the EU have been identified: equality between women and men in terms of pay; non-discrimination; respect for human dignity; receiving compulsory education; completion of compulsory school education. The following range of responsibilities of an EU citizen has been identified: to perform military service in relation to one of the EU member states; to be registered as conscripts in one of the EU member states. Such a range of human responsibilities has been established in Ukraine (strict observance of the Constitution of Ukraine and laws of Ukraine; non-encroachment on the rights and freedoms, honor and dignity of others; responsibilities in marriage and family; parents are obliged to maintain children until they reach adulthood adult children are obliged to take care of their disabled parents; to obtain a complete general secondary education; not to harm nature, cultural heritage; to compensate for damages; to pay taxes and fees in the manner and amount prescribed by law) and the duties of a citizen of Ukraine (protection of the Fatherland, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine; respect for the state symbols of Ukraine). According to these criteria, the responsibilities of man and citizen are classified into the following groups: criterion "subject": 1) human responsibilities; 2) responsibilities of a citizen; by the criterion of "form of implementation": 1) individual; 2) collective; by the criterion of "content": 1) economic; 2) social; 3) cultural; 4) political; 5) others; according to the criterion of "source" of consolidation: 1) enshrined in the founding treaties of the EU; 2) enshrined in international (additional) EU agreements with international organizations and other countries; 3) enshrined in regulations, directives, recommendations; conclusions; 4) contained in the decision of the Court of Justice, the conclusions of the Court of Justice; 5) contained in the national legislation of the EU member states, third countries; 6) according to the criterion of the circle of subjects in relation to which they are assigned: 1) in relation to other people; 2) in relation to the world community; 3) in relation to future generations.

The gradual evolution of the standards of the founding instruments of the European Communities and then the European Unionin the field of their judicial systems, which is subject to the integration processes in Europe, is comprehensively analyzed. Thoroughscientific works of both foreign and domestic scientists cover the problems of various spheres of development of the European Union,its institutions, in particular, its Court of Justice. However, the study of this topic was not given enough attention. Therefore, the purposeof the article is a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the standards of the constituent instruments of these associations inrelation to the establishment and expansion of the jurisdiction of their Court of Justice in the pre-Lisbon period. It is established thatthe origins of the standards of the Court of Justice were enshrined in the founding treaties of the European Communities, and were furtherdeveloped in the founding instruments of the European Union, which were constantly being transformed. The jurisdiction of theCourt of Justice of the Coal and Steel Community was limited to a narrow sphere of economy, and with the entry into force of theTreaties establishing the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (1958), the Court became ajoint institution for the three communities, with the powers of ensuring respect for the law in the interpretation and application of eachof the treaties.The peculiarities of the amendments made to the provisions of the following constituent instruments are discovered. The SingleEuropean Act (1986) provided for a certain unification of the legislation of Western European countries, supplementing the foundingtreaties of the Communities with new provisions on the establishment of the Court of First Instance to hear certain claims of individualsand legal entities to relieve the Court of Justice. The Maastricht Treaty (1992) formally proclaimed the establishment of the EuropeanUnion and defined the new structure of the Court of Justice (Court, Tribunal and Specialized Tribunals), its composition and powers,and powers of the Member States in the judicial field. The Amsterdam Treaty (1997) expanded the jurisdiction of the Court of Justiceof the European Union, namely certain areas of activity of courts, their cooperation with other competent authorities of the MemberStates, joint actions of judicial cooperation in criminal matters, etc. The Treaty of Nice significantly deepened the standards of thefounding instruments of the Court of Justice, expanded the powers of its judicial bodies and modernized its structure (including theCourt of Justice and the Court of First Instance), defined high requirements for judges and advocates general, the periods of theirreplacement, extended the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance, etc. Further transformation of the standards of the Court of Justicehas been carried out under the Lisbon Treaty, which requires a separate study.

Introduction. Unfortunately, municipal property, like private property in Ukraine, is not a reliable source of stable local budget revenues because, mainly, the form of ownership is not the leading factor in the high efficiency of the economic system, and the conditions in which it can be created to any of the forms of ownership, including municipal, could reveal its own potential, which will increase the economic efficiency of business entities and improve the living standards of community members.The aim of the article is to clarify the essence of municipal property and to establish tools for municipal property management in Ukraine and some countries around the world for comparison and improvement.Research methods. In the process of research to achieve the goal of the article used a number of methods of scientific knowledge (analysis, induction, deduction, synthesis, generalization, comparison of systems and tools of municipal property management in Ukraine and some countries).Results. In the scientific literature, there is mainly a classification of world-famous models of municipal government organization, which provide for the formation of relations between local governments and relevant authorities in the center. According to this approach, it is expedient to distinguish three such fundamental models of local self-government, as: Anglo-Saxon (classical), continental and mixed. The Anglo-Saxon (classical) model is common, mainly in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, India and others, where the eponymous legal system. The continental (or French) model of local government organization is quite different, common not only in European countries, including France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, but also in many Latin American countries, the Middle East, and France. It is clear that the analysis of the current state of affairs abroad can play a leading role in solving the problems of improving the management of Ukrainian municipal property. Generalization and popularization of the positive practice of individual countries with developed democracies in the subject area studied by us is expedient for the improvement of the Ukrainian legislation of Ukraine. For example, in order to form several sources of financial resources that are objects of the current municipal property of any country.Discussion. The analysis of the positive practice of local self-government in Ukraine and some countries of the world allows to draw a number of conclusions: granting local governments some state powers increases the authority of these bodies, promotes their “merging” and mutual enrichment; There is a need to develop the necessary future steps to develop the system and tools of local self-government of Ukraine and consolidate them at the regulatory level, taking into account the different types and forms of business entities, and subject to new laws continue to work in, lack of sufficient necessary financial and economic base, incomplete economic and legal regulation. We should not expect a one-time creation of the basis of local self-government throughout Ukraine, but move in this direction step by step and so on.Perspectives. In the future, more attention should be paid to the study of the principles and methods of collecting and disseminating positive experience in municipal property management both in Ukraine and in some countries around the world, which were discussed in this publication. It would also be worthwhile to deepen research on areas for improving the efficiency of operational management of municipal property and indicators of its evaluation.

The article is devoted to the study of cryptocurrency as a new means of payment, which is relevant both in Ukraine and abroad. The urgency of the problem described in the article is due to the accelerated scientific and technological progress and global computerization of society, where modern technologies contribute to the emergence and development of new mechanisms of the economy, in particular, relations using non-cash payments. The main features of cryptocurrency are considered and argued in the form of its advantages: availability, speed, decentralization, security, and disadvantages: unreliability, distrust of users, inability to cancel transactions, use to commit illegal acts. The features that are controversial in modern conditions are anonymity and transnationality. The main problems of cryptocurrency and its legal regulation are generalized. Emphasis is placed on the practice of regulating the cryptocurrency market in the European Union, as well as on the legislation of the Republic of Estonia in the field of virtual assets. The legal status of cryptocurrency in Ukraine is considered, which is an urgent problem on the way to its legalization both in the legislative and technical plan. Attempts to legally regulate a new type of currency are analyzed. Bills and acts of the National Bank of Ukraine in the field of cryptocurrency circulation are described. Gaps in the current legislation, in particular in the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption", were identified, and ways to solve such problems were suggested. It is concluded that it is necessary to develop and create effective legislation in the field of regulation and control of cryptocurrency circulation not only at the national but also at the international level, because otherwise there is a threat to economic and financial life of the state and society and other problems for the international community. in the form of criminal acts with cryptocurrency, because today in Ukraine there is no effective legislation on the circulation of cryptocurrency, and the number of problems with the use of digital currency is growing every day, so it is worth paying attention to such components as the Internet and virtual assets, as in the leading countries of the world this direction is important in domestic and foreign policy.

In the context of the economic crisis, it is important to ensure a steady flow of taxes to the budget and at the same time support domestic producers. There is a negative trend towards a decrease in VAT revenues for goods and services produced in Ukraine. This leads to a fall in GDP and a deterioration of the economy in Ukraine. Therefore, it is necessary to identify existing problems of administrating VAT in Ukraine and suggest ways of their solving. The purpose of the article is to study the problems of administrating VAT in Ukraine, which are associated with the application of differentiated VAT rates and to develop recommendations for their solution. The article uses qualitative research methods to describe the existing problems in VAT administration. Quantitative methods are used to analyze VAT revenues. The study identified four problems in VAT administration. The first problem is the lack of harmonization of norms on the application of reduced VAT rates in Ukraine with the legislation of the European Union (EU). It is proposed to analyze the potential consequences that may lead to an expansion of the range of transactions for which reduced VAT rates are applied in Ukraine in line with Directive № 112. The second problem is the lack of tools in the Ukrainian legislation that ensure the reduction of prices for the relevant product (service) by the supplier when reduced tax rates are introduced. It is proposed to analyze the price regulation tools used in the practice of EU countries and determine the feasibility of their use in Ukraine, taking into account the current regulatory framework for price regulation. The third problem is the growth of the tax burden on processing enterprises with the introduction of reduced VAT rates in Ukraine. It is proposed to analyze the feasibility of extending reduced VAT rates not only to primary products, but also to the relevant processing companies that use these products, based on the practice of EU countries. The fourth problem is ambiguities in rules for applying a reduced VAT rate to the hotel business. It is proposed to clearly define which services are subject to the reduced rate, whether the reduced rate is applied to catering services or to other hotel services, as provided for in some EU countries. In addition, it is necessary to clearly define the range of persons who can apply a reduced VAT rate to hotel services and also include natural persons-entrepreneurs, travel agencies and tour operators who are VAT payers. The proposals set out in the article should be discussed with scientists, specialists, representatives of the business community and the public. Based on the results of the disputes, it is advisable to develop specific recommendations for making appropriate changes to the Tax Code of Ukraine. This will be the direction of further research.

The article examines the purpose, methods and tools of the monetary and credit policy of the National Bank of Ukraine. It is determined that the NBU is the main State-authorized institution in Ukraine, which is responsible for planning and implementing monetary and credit policy. Monetary and credit policy is a complex of measures in the field of money circulation and credit, which are intended to ensure the stability of the monetary unit of Ukraine due to the introduction of regulated by law funds and techniques. It is established that the financial sector is the key element of the national economy; its vital functions ensure the sustainable development of the economy, the creation and distribution of financial resources and services, the accumulation of investment capital, as well as the improvement of macroeconomic and monetary indicators. In today's harsh conditions such as: rising inflation, destruction of transport infrastructure, decline of business, reduction of sown areas, blockade of ports, devaluation of the UAH, growth of the budget deficit, issues of monetary regulation are becoming extremely important. The war projected on the country's economy, has become a difficult challenge for the National Bank in improving and adjusting the current monetary and credit policy, finding innovative mechanisms for its implementation. Carrying out an active foreign policy, attracting funds from the IMF, the World and European Banks, opening a special account to raise funds from individuals - these are some of the tools used by the NBU in wartime. On the other hand, the pressure on the world community is aimed at ending trade relations with the aggressor country, helping to minimize any attraction of funds into the Russian budget, thus depriving them of the opportunity to finance the war. Another important tool is the analysis of the world experience of countries in resolving the postwar crisis, and the adoption of their tools and mechanisms for economic recovery - all this is the purpose of this article.

In the era of globalization, the attraction of foreign investments has become an important factor in promoting the economic growth of countries. Investors are constantly looking for favorable conditions for investing their capital, which involves a combination of several important factors. The investor, who is focused on getting the maximum profit with the minimum cost, before making an investment decision, will study the investment environment of the host country, the proximity to large key markets, the barriers to entry from the host country to international markets, the availability of production and energy resources, the level of political and economic stability, the number of labor force, qualifications, etc. .sh. In terms of investments in the modern world, two types of trends have been identified: 1. High-tech investments, which are mainly located in developed countries, due to the developed country's intellectual resources, key market and good opportunities for business development, and 2. Investment, which is focused on obtaining maximum profit at the expense of cheap resources and labor force, and there is no or minimal technical innovation in it. It is important for the state to attract such direct foreign investments, which will not only be focused on making profits, but will also ensure the raising of the qualifications of local staff, the introduction of technological innovations, and the social protection of employees. Thanks to the economic reforms implemented after the post-Soviet upheavals, Georgia has become an attractive place for foreign investment, however, due to the shortage of labor force and low qualifications, investments focused on cheap resources and labor force are entering the country more than high-tech ones. The entry of relatively large, high-tech investments is hindered, in addition to the scarcity of the country's workforce and relatively low qualifications, the low level of energy independence, the territories occupied by the Russian Federation of Georgia, the generally politically and economically unstable region (Tskhinvali, Abkhazia, Karabakh regions), the aggressive state - the Russian Federation. Neighborhood and high probability of potential armed conflicts. The positive factors that make Georgia attractive for foreign investors are a favorable geopolitical location with land access, moderate natural and climatic conditions, low level of corruption, less bureaucratic and simple legislation compared to other countries, high level of harmonization of national legislation with international legislation, with the European Union in 2014 and in 2017 Free trade agreements signed with China, which allow a foreign investor to export products produced on behalf of Georgia to two of the world's largest markets without any problems. Due to the fact that one of the most important factors of production - "capital" - is needed to develop the economy, and the country does not have it at this stage, attracting foreign investments is a vitally important task for the economic growth of Georgia. In developing countries like Georgia, the level of domestic savings is relatively low. In addition to this, apart from the banking system, there is no stock market. In the period 1996-2021, a total of about 23.12 billion dollars of investment came into Georgia. The first and only investor country in 1996 was Ukraine with 3753.45 thousand US dollars. In the following years, significant investments were made in Georgia from the USA (1.81 billion USD), the European Union, CIS countries and Great Britain. According to the latest data, foreign investment has entered Georgia from 74 countries, which is almost 2 times less than the number of countries with which Georgia has trade relations (export-import). Since 2003, the growth of investments had an irreversible character, however, the 2008 world economic crisis and Russia's military attack on Georgia sharply reduced this figure, and it took 6 years to restore the pre-war figure. In addition, since 2017, foreign investments in Georgia have been characterized by a decreasing trend. Pandemic year 2020 was particularly notable in terms of investment decline. Despite the fact that after the signing of the Georgia-EU association in 2014, foreign investments should have increased due to the desire to access the EU market, until 2017, their volume was decreasing. In 2017, in the history of independent Georgia, the largest level of foreign investments - 1.98 billion USD was recorded. In the same year, the agreement on free trade between Georgia and China was signed, which should also increase foreign investments due to the desire to access the Chinese market, although the country has not returned to the level of foreign investments made in 2017. On December 31, 2013, the Organic Law of Georgia "On Economic Freedom" adopted in 2011 entered into force. The law, on the one hand, regulates the limit of the amount acceptable from taxpayers - in case of the desire to increase the tax rates of income, profit, VAT and import taxes, citizens' consent is required through a referendum, and on the other hand, the amount of spending of collected taxes is controlled by the limits of the established macroeconomic parameters. After the implementation of this law, the tax burden of taxpayers was not supposed to increase, but the government took advantage of the loophole in the law and in 2017 the excise duty rate was sharply increased on cars (the excise duty on right-hand drive cars was doubled), fuel and tobacco products. The property tax has also been increased, since it does not belong to the general state tax. Since January 1, 2017, when the Estonian model of profit tax came into force, the state budget received about 500 million GEL less. To make up the deficit, either government spending had to be cut, or debt had to be incurred, or taxes had to be raised. In 2017, the government's expenses increased by 800 million GEL, we took on a debt of 400 million GEL, and the excise and property tax rates were also increased, according to which if the family had an annual income of more than 40,000 GEL, they would have already paid property tax on the car. As of May 2021, the foreign debt has increased to 24.8 billion GEL and has already violated the macroeconomic parameter written in the Law on Economic Freedom, according to which the government's debt cannot exceed 60% of GDP. From 2011, when the law was adopted, until 2013, when the law entered into force, the volume of direct foreign investments did not increase, on the contrary - it even decreased, although this can be blamed on the caution caused by the change of government in 2012. - Investors are likely to observe the possibility of a change in the country's political vector. When the law came into force in December 2013, that is, in fact from 2014, the volume of investments increased by leaps and bounds, and this dynamic continued until 2017, when taxes were increased. Since 2018, the volume of direct foreign investments has dropped almost to the level of 2011. Based on all of the above, we believe that in order to attract foreign investments, Georgia should make maximum use of those competitive advantages that will attract the attention of foreign investors. The country, which has historically been a corridor of regional and world importance, has yet to fully utilize its transport function.

The article states that when reforming the public administration of Ukraine in the direction of its democratization and adaptation to European standards, one of the main issues is staffing the public administration with highly professional and competent professionals capable of working in government at the transformational stage of society. One of the priority areas of socio-economic development of Ukraine is the qualitative improvement of the system of training, retraining and advanced training of civil servants.Having set a course for the development of a qualitatively new civil service institution, the state has identified the need to reform the institute of professional training of civil servants. The adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service” in 2016, which defined the guiding ideas and fundamental principles of the functioning of the institute of civil service in Ukraine, is considered to be a kind of start in reforming the institute of professional training of civil servants.An important problematic aspect of the issue of education of professionalism in the process of training civil servants are educational institutions that conduct educational activities in the field of training future civil servants. The implementation of educational activities in the field of professional training of civil servants is aimed at training highly qualified specialists in the field of civil service and public administration belongs to the competence of exclusively state institutions of higher education.The main issue of quality professional training of civil servants is the development of standards of higher education on the basis of their clear compliance with the needs of the civil service of Ukraine, namely professional training.It is necessary to bring the educational standard of knowledge «Public Administration and Management» in accordance with the requirements of current legislation and the practice of European countries regarding the calculation of the educational process in the process of educational activities and training of civil servants.Advanced training of civil servants is carried out on the basis of educational programs developed by relevant scientific and pedagogical workers-specialists in the field of public administration and governance. Currently, educational programs for the training of civil servants are being modernized. For example, training of civil servants in the European transfer and accumulation system is a borrowing of European Community practice in this area and allows for accurate accounting of learned material and also creates additional opportunities for government regulation in the field of civil servants.

Today, Ukraine is at the center of the world community, politics and the European market, in light of changes in the political, economic and military spheres. Undoubtedly, all this influenced the development of the country’s economy and policy towards the countries of the near and far abroad, including the development of the tourism industry. To characterize the current state of development of domestic and international tourism in Ukraine and served as the main purpose of writing an article. The research of the current state of tourism development in Ukraine was based on the application of a systematic approach using comparative, statistical, analytical methods, etc. The relevance of this study is determined by the clarification of the further direction of tourism development in connection with the deprivation of tourism industry as a priority in 2019, although it is one of the significant sources of filling the state treasury, as well as the impact on the tourist image of Ukraine, an aggressor country during the period of change of power and incomplete reforms. It is established that the tourist image of Ukraine is restored from 2016 due to the victorious participation of Ukrainians in international events, in particular, Eurovision-2017, but it should be noted that the main donor countries are the countries of close foreign countries. Visa tourism has been intensified with Ukraine through visa-free travel and pricing policies for tourist services. For example, when comparing prices with the tourist complex «Bukovel» or «Shayan» cheaper to rest in Poland or Hungary. One of the reasons was revealed: the population’s low awareness of the tourist potential of the country; unreliability of domestic subjects of tourism activity; the lack of security in the places of rest, as well as the war in the east of Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula. It was found that the length of stay of Ukrainians abroad depended on the location of the country. The farther the longer, which is associated with the cost of time and money. Also, you should not neglect tourist logistics. After all, almost all flights from Ukraine abroad are sent in the morning. Arriving in the evening, a tourist-Ukrainian is forced to seek a lodging for himself. While in Ukraine, on the contrary, tourists mostly come in the morning or in the afternoon. It should also be noted that the marked decrease in trips abroad is due to the poverty of the Ukrainian population. The main purpose of travel – rest on the warm seas of the seas for the best price and high quality of service for tourists. It is statistically reported that the geography of recipient countries is predominantly close to a foreign country, mainly the CIS countries, while, for example, most of Belarus comes to the EU. The development of domestic tourism, which tends to grow, is estimated. The main factors of its development are the desire of Ukrainians to travel even with a minimal budget. However, it should be noted the predominance of self-organized tourism. The main tourist areas with the predominance of a certain type of tourism were identified, for example Lviv – cultural-cognitive, IvanoFrankivsk and Transcarpathian - active and eventful, Odessa – recreational types of tourism. The tendency of the steady development of tourism in Ukraine due to the development of transport infrastructure, information and communication environment, the election of the European development vector is revealed. In the near future it is expedient: to adjust the Law «On Tourism» in accordance with the EU directives in the tourism sector, as well as to direct the direction for the development of domestic and inbound tourism in Ukraine.

The article is dedicated to the elections to the State Assembly of Hungary on April 3, 2022, which ended with the victory and acquisition of a constitutional majority by the now ruling coalition of Fidesz-Hungarian Civil Union and the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) - (Fidesz–KDNP). It analyzes its electoral platform “War or Peace”, the center of which was the attitude to the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is indicated that this war divided the political forces of Hungary into two camps – supporters of neutrality (peace) or supporters of Ukraine (war). The ruling coalition advocated neutrality, non-intervention in the war, which guaranteed the preservation of peace and tranquility for the citizens of Hungary. All the opposition forces showed support for Ukraine against Russia. The authorities accused the latter of the fact that their pro-Ukrainian and anti-Putin activities posed a danger and threatened the spread of the war to the territory of Hungary. It is emphasized that thanks to this position, Fidesz–KDNP won a convincing victory in Hungary as a whole and especially among the Hungarian communities abroad, while the six-party opposition bloc, although it won convincingly in 17 of Budapest’s 18 districts, suffered a significant defeat in the country as a whole. The main reasons for the unexpected victory of the ruling coalition Fidesz - HDNP in these elections are highlighted. Among them: the coalition flexibly combined centrist and center-right values, synthesized them and rose above narrow party interests, turning into a broad popular front of the Hungarian nation. It is also noted that during the 12-year remaining stay in power in the country, transformations were completed, namely, a new Basic Law (constitution) was adopted, relevant legislation was formed, and a national democratic model of political and economic power was introduced according both to the state and EU standards that complies with state and EU standards. The internal policy was aimed at the development of traditional branches of the economy and the formation of modern forms of management. Relatively high economic development of the country was ensured thanks to by the effective use of foreign investments, international markets, which are far from being limited to EU countries. Hungary develops close cooperation with countries of all regions, if its national interests are ensured. Great attention is paid to the support and protection of Hungarian communities living in countries neighboring Hungary (Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine). At the legislative level, the status of Hungarians abroad is almost equal to that of Hungarians in the country itself. The policy of national unity, the recognition of Hungarians, regardless of their residency country of residence, as members of a united single Hungarian nation, gained general approval. The concentration of domestic and foreign policy on the priority of Hungarian interests helped Fidesz to turn into an authoritative and reliable political force of the country, which, using civilized methods, fights for the future of Hungary, the comprehensive development of its people, the preservation of the identity of Hungarian communities abroad, the prevention of assimilation, mass emigration and the restriction of their rights along national lines. In addition, the ruling coalition managed to form a reliable financial, personnel, and media potential, to significantly expand the electoral field of its activities, which no opposition political force is able to compete with, especially during the elections to the State Assembly. The qualitative composition of the new parliament was analyzed. The progress of the election of the new President of Hungary on March 9, the speaker of the newly elected parliament, his deputies and heads of parliamentary factions on May 2, and finally the Prime Minister of Hungary on May 16 and the approval of the country’s new government headed by Viktor Orbán on May 24, is highlighted. Great attention is paid to the formation of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations. The analysis of political processes during the election campaign and in the first months after the end of the elections, in particular the attitude of Budapest to the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, to the formation of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, allowed us to draw conclusions that the priorities of the international activities of the ruling coalition of Hungary will remain unchanged: serving the interests of the Hungarian nation on in all territories of its residence, in particular support, protection and assistance to Hungarian national communities in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine. The results of the parliamentary elections in Hungary on April 3, 2022 confirmed that these principles are unchanged and continue to be binding in the activities of the Hungarian government institutions. It is emphasized that the level of development of Hungary's bilateral relations with neighboring states will depend on ensuring the Hungarian foreign communities interests how the interests of the Hungarian foreign communities will be ensured (granting dual citizenship, autonomy status for the community, creating conditions for cultural and educational development based on in the national language and traditions). Hungarian-Ukrainian relations will be in the same condition state. Hungary supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, its European choice, condemns Russian aggression, supports the EU’s sanctions policy against the Russian Federation, and provided shelter for 800,000 refugees from Ukraine. More than 100,000 people from Ukraine stay are in Hungary illegally. Since July 19, Hungary has allowed the transit of weapons from other countries through its territory to Ukraine. Yet But it continues to maintain neutrality in the Russian-Ukrainian war, supports EU energy sanctions against the Russian Federation in such a way that it does not harm its economic interests. At the same time, it does not agree to the application of certain legal provisions on education the procedure for using the Ukrainian language as the official language on the territory of Ukraine, that came into force in 2017 and 2019 to the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia of a number of provisions of the laws on education and the procedure for using the Ukrainian language as the official language on the territory of Ukraine, which came into force in 2017 and 2019. It is emphasized that the settlement of cultural and educational issues of the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia should become a priority task for both countries.

The article is dedicated to the elections to the State Assembly of Hungary on April 3, 2022, which ended with the victory and acquisition of a constitutional majority by the now ruling coalition of Fidesz-Hungarian Civil Union and the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) - (Fidesz–KDNP). It analyzes its electoral platform “War or Peace”, the center of which was the attitude to the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is indicated that this war divided the political forces of Hungary into two camps – supporters of neutrality (peace) or supporters of Ukraine (war). The ruling coalition advocated neutrality, non-intervention in the war, which guaranteed the preservation of peace and tranquility for the citizens of Hungary. All the opposition forces showed support for Ukraine against Russia. The authorities accused the latter of the fact that their pro-Ukrainian and anti-Putin activities posed a danger and threatened the spread of the war to the territory of Hungary. It is emphasized that thanks to this position, Fidesz–KDNP won a convincing victory in Hungary as a whole and especially among the Hungarian communities abroad, while the six-party opposition bloc, although it won convincingly in 17 of Budapest’s 18 districts, suffered a significant defeat in the country as a whole. The main reasons for the unexpected victory of the ruling coalition Fidesz - HDNP in these elections are highlighted. Among them: the coalition flexibly combined centrist and center-right values, synthesized them and rose above narrow party interests, turning into a broad popular front of the Hungarian nation. It is also noted that during the 12-year remaining stay in power in the country, transformations were completed, namely, a new Basic Law (constitution) was adopted, relevant legislation was formed, and a national democratic model of political and economic power was introduced according both to the state and EU standards that complies with state and EU standards. The internal policy was aimed at the development of traditional branches of the economy and the formation of modern forms of management. Relatively high economic development of the country was ensured thanks to by the effective use of foreign investments, international markets, which are far from being limited to EU countries. Hungary develops close cooperation with countries of all regions, if its national interests are ensured. Great attention is paid to the support and protection of Hungarian communities living in countries neighboring Hungary (Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine). At the legislative level, the status of Hungarians abroad is almost equal to that of Hungarians in the country itself. The policy of national unity, the recognition of Hungarians, regardless of their residency country of residence, as members of a united single Hungarian nation, gained general approval. The concentration of domestic and foreign policy on the priority of Hungarian interests helped Fidesz to turn into an authoritative and reliable political force of the country, which, using civilized methods, fights for the future of Hungary, the comprehensive development of its people, the preservation of the identity of Hungarian communities abroad, the prevention of assimilation, mass emigration and the restriction of their rights along national lines. In addition, the ruling coalition managed to form a reliable financial, personnel, and media potential, to significantly expand the electoral field of its activities, which no opposition political force is able to compete with, especially during the elections to the State Assembly. The qualitative composition of the new parliament was analyzed. The progress of the election of the new President of Hungary on March 9, the speaker of the newly elected parliament, his deputies and heads of parliamentary factions on May 2, and finally the Prime Minister of Hungary on May 16 and the approval of the country’s new government headed by Viktor Orbán on May 24, is highlighted. Great attention is paid to the formation of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations. The analysis of political processes during the election campaign and in the first months after the end of the elections, in particular the attitude of Budapest to the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, to the formation of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, allowed us to draw conclusions that the priorities of the international activities of the ruling coalition of Hungary will remain unchanged: serving the interests of the Hungarian nation on in all territories of its residence, in particular support, protection and assistance to Hungarian national communities in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine. The results of the parliamentary elections in Hungary on April 3, 2022 confirmed that these principles are unchanged and continue to be binding in the activities of the Hungarian government institutions. It is emphasized that the level of development of Hungary's bilateral relations with neighboring states will depend on ensuring the Hungarian foreign communities interests how the interests of the Hungarian foreign communities will be ensured (granting dual citizenship, autonomy status for the community, creating conditions for cultural and educational development based on in the national language and traditions). Hungarian-Ukrainian relations will be in the same condition state. Hungary supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, its European choice, condemns Russian aggression, supports the EU’s sanctions policy against the Russian Federation, and provided shelter for 800,000 refugees from Ukraine. More than 100,000 people from Ukraine stay are in Hungary illegally. Since July 19, Hungary has allowed the transit of weapons from other countries through its territory to Ukraine. Yet But it continues to maintain neutrality in the Russian-Ukrainian war, supports EU energy sanctions against the Russian Federation in such a way that it does not harm its economic interests. At the same time, it does not agree to the application of certain legal provisions on education the procedure for using the Ukrainian language as the official language on the territory of Ukraine, that came into force in 2017 and 2019 to the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia of a number of provisions of the laws on education and the procedure for using the Ukrainian language as the official language on the territory of Ukraine, which came into force in 2017 and 2019. It is emphasized that the settlement of cultural and educational issues of the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia should become a priority task for both countries.

The relevance of the researched problem is conditioned by the civilizational need of globalization entry of Ukraine in the European and world community with further reforming of its system of state administration in the financial sphere. The purpose of the article is based on the study of current world experience and the consequences of budget federalization as a phenomenon, analysis of the current reform situation in Ukraine and the development of useful recommendations for further approbation. The basic method is comparative, which allowed to compare different state and legal systems, in order to identify similarities or differences between them, resulting in a qualitative state of the legal system as a whole and individual legal institution. This allowed us to consider the problem in a holistic manner and from every side. The article analyzes the policy and experience of budget federalism of Ukraine and other countries, analyzes the development of budget legislation of Ukraine and develops recommendations for the Ukrainian legislator for further structural changes in the administration of the financial sector. It is claimed that Ukraine has done significant work in adapting its legislation to European and world practices through the introduction of budget (fiscal) federalism. Recommendations, analysis and review are aimed at adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to world economic systems during the process of globalization and embedding Ukraine in it. The materials of the article can be useful to anyone who researches federalism.

The article examines the development of consumer protection policy from the most ancient historical acts to modern legal acts of the European Union. The key laws of the Roman Empire in the field of consumer protection have been studied, among which the main ones are: «Lex Iulia de Annona», «Edictum de pretiis rerum venalium — Edict of maximum prices», «Civil Code» of Emperor Justinian. It is determined that the studied legislative acts were the first attempts to consolidate the protection of the rights of buyers (consumers). Roman law, which became the basis of modern legal systems in Europe and many non-European countries, has not lost its relevance. Ancient Roman laws are compared with the modern practice of the European Union. The history of the emergence of consumer law in the European Community is considered, which is divided into three key stages from the establishment of the European Community to modern EU policy. It is determined that at the beginning of its creation the EU policy of consumer protection was considered as an element of ensuring the sustainable operation of the internal market. The key constituent acts of the Union are considered, among which the Treaty of Rome of 1957, the Single European Act of 1987, the Treaty of Amsterdam of 1997 and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union of 2000 are highlighted. The analysis of Art. 2 of the Treaty of Rome stipulates that one of the key goals — protection and improvement of living standards was interpreted also as consumer protection. This strategy was later strengthened by the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997, which identified the promotion of a high level of consumer protection as one of the Community’s tasks. The current EU policy in the field of consumer protection, which is aimed at updating legislation in accordance with modern realities, is studied. Among the key acts of secondary law is the EU Directive № 2019/2161, which focuses on better application and modernization of legislation on consumer protection and amends existing EU directives. It is determined that the current consumer protection policy in the EU ensures the proper and effective functioning of the single market through constant updating of legislation taking into account social, technological, economic and environmental changes.

The world economic thought has a number of tools, the use of which helps attract financial investment and helps accumulate additional funds for infrastructure and social projects of municipalities. The issue of municipal bonds as a financial component of the development of territorial communities is considered vital for this research in which the factors that determine the ability to borrow are highlighted. The advantages and disadvantages of using municipal bonds by local governments are also identified. It is realized that the world experience in the application of municipal bonds is contradictory and ambiguous. It is established that the best results from the use of bonds have been the municipalities of countries with a high level of development and municipal management, which determines the demand for this type of securities from investors. The use of municipal bond in countries with economies in transition has led to a number of municipal defaults, resulting in severe restrictions on their issuance by central authorities. The united communities of Ukraine require additional financial resources. Smaller municipalities are characterized by a high rate of budget subsidies and low average income per community. Ukrainian territorial communities’ municipal bonds are used insufficiently in comparison to developed industrial countries. Factors that shape the risks of implementing a system of local borrowing in Ukraine are identified and include lack of recognition and registration of local governments as legal entities under public law, imperfection of legislation, lack of experience in local borrowing, lack of clear information about the available resources of local communities and their valuation.

The European Community (EC), in particular, took upon itself the role of the key external player in the political and economic restructuring programs in Eastern Europe. It successfully used a combination of aid packages and advice-giving, to frame its political and economic relations with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. For their part, the Eastern states, hoping for a quick path to a convertible currency and EU membership, fully embraced the free market philosophy by swallowing the bitter pill of shock therapy, mass privatization and deregulation. The Eastern Europeans have gradually come to a significant twofold realization. First, that membership is not likely to be offered any time soon. And second, that there are significant barriers to the strengthening of ties with the EU. <p> The EU eventually responded to the growing pleas for membership by announcing that the special relationship between Western and Eastern Europe would be assured through association agreements pursuant to Article 235 of the Treaty of Rome. Initially, the EU did not intend to make any reference in the Europe Agreements to future membership of the Association countries. <p> A major indicator in the Europe Agreements, which highlights the EU's fundamental concern over its own interests rather than assisting Eastern Europe in the transition process, are the trade provisions. In essence, these maintain significant, potentially long-term barriers to trade between the EC and the East, particularly in sensitive sectors such as steel, textiles and agriculture. A second obstacle to the Associate countries' accession are the relatively weak institutional links created by the Europe Agreements. Convergence of laws is another important condition which needs to be satisfied before membership is granted to the Eastern European applicants. The present approach excludes the Eastern Europeans from exemption from the EU's anti-dumping law; it shuts them out of most of the EU's decision making; and it limits the effectiveness of their attempts to harmonise their legislation with the EU. Taken collectively, it seems certain that these exclusions will seriously restrict the Associates' prospects of rapid integration into the EU. <p> The compromise may involve complicated negotiations between member states and also with potential applicants.

Abstract Introduction In 1978, Italy approved the Law 180, which required the closure of all psychiatric hospitals. The three key points were: 1) A ban on the building of new psychiatric hospitals; 2) The principle that prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation have to be provided in community services; 3) The reason for requiring involuntary treatments was no longer dangerousness: involuntary treatments could only be required if a person needed an urgent treatment and he or she did not have - in that particular moment - the capacity for taking a decision. Discussion Regional differences. The 1978 law has been “translated” into regional policies. The resources allocated to implement these policies were higher in the North and lower in the South Italy. The access to services and, thus, the health outcomes were found to be related to the availability of resources. Decreases in resources Furthermore, the total amount of resources for the national mental health system in Italy shows a constant decrease from 2001 to date. Considering the percentage of mental health expenditure on the total public health expenditure, today the European countries with an income similar to Italy spend 10% of their health budget for mental health; Italy spends half of it. In this new scenario, the Italian associations of users and families have denounced abuses during involuntary health treatments and in the so-called shelter-houses. Lack of a scientific approach. Another critical point of the reform is the poor scientific testimony of what has been done. Conclusions Italy created a revolutionary approach to mental illness in a historical framework in which this country was in economic expansion and produced a great cultural expression. At that time, we were accustomed to ‘believing and doing’ rather than to questioning results. With the economic and cultural crisis, Italy has guilty neglected mental health. Any future humanitarian approach to mental health should take this experience into account.

Connecting I’ve moved house on the weekend, closer to the centre of an Australian capital city. I had recently signed up for broadband, with a major Australian Internet company (my first contact, cf. Turner). Now I am the proud owner of a larger modem than I have ever owned: a white cable modem. I gaze out into our new street: two thick black cables cosseted in silver wire. I am relieved. My new home is located in one of those streets, double-cabled by Telstra and Optus in the data-rush of the mid-1990s. Otherwise, I’d be moth-balling the cable modem, and the thrill of my data percolating down coaxial cable. And it would be off to the computer supermarket to buy an ASDL modem, then to pick a provider, to squeeze some twenty-first century connectivity out of old copper (the phone network our grandparents and great-grandparents built). If I still lived in the country, or the outskirts of the city, or anywhere else more than four kilometres from the phone exchange, and somewhere that cable pay TV will never reach, it would be a dish for me — satellite. Our digital lives are premised upon infrastructure, the networks through which we shape what we do, fashion the meanings of our customs and practices, and exchange signs with others. Infrastructure is not simply the material or the technical (Lamberton), but it is the dense, fibrous knotting together of social visions, cultural resources, individual desires, and connections. No more can one easily discern between ‘society’ and ‘technology’, ‘carriage’ and ‘content’, ‘base’ and ‘superstructure’, or ‘infrastructure’ and ‘applications’ (or ‘services’ or ‘content’). To understand telecommunications in action, or the vectors of fibre, we need to consider the long and heterogeneous list of links among different human and non-human actors — the long networks, to take Bruno Latour’s evocative concept, that confect our broadband networks (Latour). The co-ordinates of our infrastructure still build on a century-long history of telecommunications networks, on the nineteenth-century centrality of telegraphy preceding this, and on the histories of the public and private so inscribed. Yet we are in the midst of a long, slow dismantling of the posts-telegraph-telephone (PTT) model of the monopoly carrier for each nation that dominated the twentieth century, with its deep colonial foundations. Instead our New World Information and Communication Order is not the decolonising UNESCO vision of the late 1970s and early 1980s (MacBride, Maitland). Rather it is the neoliberal, free trade, market access model, its symbol the 1984 US judicial decision to require the break-up of AT&T and the UK legislation in the same year that underpinned the Thatcherite twin move to privatize British Telecom and introduce telecommunications competition. Between 1984 and 1999, 110 telecommunications companies were privatized, and the ‘acquisition of privatized PTOs [public telecommunications operators] by European and American operators does follow colonial lines’ (Winseck 396; see also Mody, Bauer & Straubhaar). The competitive market has now been uneasily installed as the paradigm for convergent communications networks, not least with the World Trade Organisation’s 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services and Annex on Telecommunications. As the citizen is recast as consumer and customer (Goggin, ‘Citizens and Beyond’), we rethink our cultural and political axioms as well as the axes that orient our understandings in this area. Information might travel close to the speed of light, and we might fantasise about optical fibre to the home (or pillow), but our terrain, our band where the struggle lies today, is narrower than we wish. Begging for broadband, it seems, is a long way from warchalking for WiFi. Policy Circuits The dreary everyday business of getting connected plugs the individual netizen into a tangled mess of policy circuits, as much as tricky network negotiations. Broadband in mid-2003 in Australia is a curious chimera, welded together from a patchwork of technologies, old and newer communications industries, emerging economies and patterns of use. Broadband conjures up grander visions, however, of communication and cultural cornucopia. Broadband is high-speed, high-bandwidth, ‘always-on’, networked communications. People can send and receive video, engage in multimedia exchanges of all sorts, make the most of online education, realise the vision of home-based work and trading, have access to telemedicine, and entertainment. Broadband really entered the lexicon with the mass takeup of the Internet in the early to mid-1990s, and with the debates about something called the ‘information superhighway’. The rise of the Internet, the deregulation of telecommunications, and the involuted convergence of communications and media technologies saw broadband positioned at the centre of policy debates nearly a decade ago. In 1993-1994, Australia had its Broadband Services Expert Group (BSEG), established by the then Labor government. The BSEG was charged with inquiring into ‘issues relating to the delivery of broadband services to homes, schools and businesses’. Stung by criticisms of elite composition (a narrow membership, with only one woman among its twelve members, and no consumer or citizen group representation), the BSEG was prompted into wider public discussion and consultation (Goggin & Newell). The then Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics (BTCE), since transmogrified into the Communications Research Unit of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA), conducted its large-scale Communications Futures Project (BTCE and Luck). The BSEG Final report posed the question starkly: As a society we have choices to make. If we ignore the opportunities we run the risk of being left behind as other countries introduce new services and make themselves more competitive: we will become consumers of other countries’ content, culture and technologies rather than our own. Or we could adopt new technologies at any cost…This report puts forward a different approach, one based on developing a new, user-oriented strategy for communications. The emphasis will be on communication among people... (BSEG v) The BSEG proposed a ‘National Strategy for New Communications Networks’ based on three aspects: education and community access, industry development, and the role of government (BSEG x). Ironically, while the nation, or at least its policy elites, pondered the weighty question of broadband, Australia’s two largest telcos were doing it. The commercial decision of Telstra/Foxtel and Optus Vision, and their various television partners, was to nail their colours (black) to the mast, or rather telegraph pole, and to lay cable in the major capital cities. In fact, they duplicated the infrastructure in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, then deciding it would not be profitable to cable up even regional centres, let alone small country towns or settlements. As Terry Flew and Christina Spurgeon observe: This wasteful duplication contrasted with many other parts of the country that would never have access to this infrastructure, or to the social and economic benefits that it was perceived to deliver. (Flew & Spurgeon 72) The implications of this decision for Australia’s telecommunications and television were profound, but there was little, if any, public input into this. Then Minister Michael Lee was very proud of his anti-siphoning list of programs, such as national sporting events, that would remain on free-to-air television rather than screen on pay, but was unwilling, or unable, to develop policy on broadband and pay TV cable infrastructure (on the ironies of Australia’s television history, see Given’s masterly account). During this period also, it may be remembered, Australia’s Internet was being passed into private hands, with the tendering out of AARNET (see Spurgeon for discussion). No such national strategy on broadband really emerged in the intervening years, nor has the market provided integrated, accessible broadband services. In 1997, landmark telecommunications legislation was enacted that provided a comprehensive framework for competition in telecommunications, as well as consolidating and extending consumer protection, universal service, customer service standards, and other reforms (CLC). Carrier and reseller competition had commenced in 1991, and the 1997 legislation gave it further impetus. Effective competition is now well established in long distance telephone markets, and in mobiles. Rivalrous competition exists in the market for local-call services, though viable alternatives to Telstra’s dominance are still few (Fels). Broadband too is an area where there is symbolic rivalry rather than effective competition. This is most visible in advertised ADSL offerings in large cities, yet most of the infrastructure for these services is comprised by Telstra’s copper, fixed-line network. Facilities-based duopoly competition exists principally where Telstra/Foxtel and Optus cable networks have been laid, though there are quite a number of ventures underway by regional telcos, power companies, and, most substantial perhaps, the ACT government’s TransACT broadband network. Policymakers and industry have been greatly concerned about what they see as slow takeup of broadband, compared to other countries, and by barriers to broadband competition and access to ‘bottleneck’ facilities (such as Telstra or Optus’s networks) by potential competitors. The government has alternated between trying to talk up broadband benefits and rates of take up and recognising the real difficulties Australia faces as a large country with a relative small and dispersed population. In March 2003, Minister Alston directed the ACCC to implement new monitoring and reporting arrangements on competition in the broadband industry. A key site for discussion of these matters has been the competition policy institution, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and its various inquiries, reports, and considerations (consult ACCC’s telecommunications homepage at http://www.accc.gov.au/telco/fs-telecom.htm). Another key site has been the Productivity Commission (http://www.pc.gov.au), while a third is the National Office on the Information Economy (NOIE - http://www.noie.gov.au/projects/access/access/broadband1.htm). Others have questioned whether even the most perfectly competitive market in broadband will actually provide access to citizens and consumers. A great deal of work on this issue has been undertaken by DCITA, NOIE, the regulators, and industry bodies, not to mention consumer and public interest groups. Since 1997, there have been a number of governmental inquiries undertaken or in progress concerning the takeup of broadband and networked new media (for example, a House of Representatives Wireless Broadband Inquiry), as well as important inquiries into the still most strategically important of Australia’s companies in this area, Telstra. Much of this effort on an ersatz broadband policy has been piecemeal and fragmented. There are fundamental difficulties with the large size of the Australian continent and its harsh terrain, the small size of the Australian market, the number of providers, and the dominant position effectively still held by Telstra, as well as Singtel Optus (Optus’s previous overseas investors included Cable & Wireless and Bell South), and the larger telecommunications and Internet companies (such as Ozemail). Many consumers living in metropolitan Australia still face real difficulties in realising the slogan ‘bandwidth for all’, but the situation in parts of rural Australia is far worse. Satellite ‘broadband’ solutions are available, through Telstra Countrywide or other providers, but these offer limited two-way interactivity. Data can be received at reasonable speeds (though at far lower data rates than how ‘broadband’ used to be defined), but can only be sent at far slower rates (Goggin, Rural Communities Online). The cultural implications of these digital constraints may well be considerable. Computer gamers, for instance, are frustrated by slow return paths. In this light, the final report of the January 2003 Broadband Advisory Group (BAG) is very timely. The BAG report opens with a broadband rhapsody: Broadband communications technologies can deliver substantial economic and social benefits to Australia…As well as producing productivity gains in traditional and new industries, advanced connectivity can enrich community life, particularly in rural and regional areas. It provides the basis for integration of remote communities into national economic, cultural and social life. (BAG 1, 7) Its prescriptions include: Australia will be a world leader in the availability and effective use of broadband...and to capture the economic and social benefits of broadband connectivity...Broadband should be available to all Australians at fair and reasonable prices…Market arrangements should be pro-competitive and encourage investment...The Government should adopt a National Broadband Strategy (BAG 1) And, like its predecessor nine years earlier, the BAG report does make reference to a national broadband strategy aiming to maximise “choice in work and recreation activities available to all Australians independent of location, background, age or interests” (17). However, the idea of a national broadband strategy is not something the BAG really comes to grips with. The final report is keen on encouraging broadband adoption, but not explicit on how barriers to broadband can be addressed. Perhaps this is not surprising given that the membership of the BAG, dominated by representatives of large corporations and senior bureaucrats was even less representative than its BSEG predecessor. Some months after the BAG report, the Federal government did declare a broadband strategy. It did so, intriguingly enough, under the rubric of its response to the Regional Telecommunications Inquiry report (Estens), the second inquiry responsible for reassuring citizens nervous about the full-privatisation of Telstra (the first inquiry being Besley). The government’s grand $142.8 million National Broadband Strategy focusses on the ‘broadband needs of regional Australians, in partnership with all levels of government’ (Alston, ‘National Broadband Strategy’). Among other things, the government claims that the Strategy will result in “improved outcomes in terms of services and prices for regional broadband access; [and] the development of national broadband infrastructure assets.” (Alston, ‘National Broadband Strategy’) At the same time, the government announced an overall response to the Estens Inquiry, with specific safeguards for Telstra’s role in regional communications — a preliminary to the full Telstra sale (Alston, ‘Future Proofing’). Less publicised was the government’s further initiative in indigenous telecommunications, complementing its Telecommunications Action Plan for Remote Indigenous Communities (DCITA). Indigenous people, it can be argued, were never really contemplated as citizens with the ken of the universal service policy taken to underpin the twentieth-century government monopoly PTT project. In Australia during the deregulatory and re-regulatory 1990s, there was a great reluctance on the part of Labor and Coalition Federal governments, Telstra and other industry participants, even to research issues of access to and use of telecommunications by indigenous communicators. Telstra, and to a lesser extent Optus (who had purchased AUSSAT as part of their licence arrangements), shrouded the issue of indigenous communications in mystery that policymakers were very reluctant to uncover, let alone systematically address. Then regulator, the Australian Telecommunications Authority (AUSTEL), had raised grave concerns about indigenous telecommunications access in its 1991 Rural Communications inquiry. However, there was no government consideration of, nor research upon, these issues until Alston commissioned a study in 2001 — the basis for the TAPRIC strategy (DCITA). The elision of indigenous telecommunications from mainstream industry and government policy is all the more puzzling, if one considers the extraordinarily varied and significant experiments by indigenous Australians in telecommunications and Internet (not least in the early work of the Tanami community, made famous in media and cultural studies by the writings of anthropologist Eric Michaels). While the government’s mid-2003 moves on a ‘National Broadband Strategy’ attend to some details of the broadband predicament, they fall well short of an integrated framework that grasps the shortcomings of the neoliberal communications model. The funding offered is a token amount. The view from the seat of government is a glance from the rear-view mirror: taking a snapshot of rural communications in the years 2000-2002 and projecting this tableau into a safety-net ‘future proofing’ for the inevitable turning away of a fully-privately-owned Telstra from its previously universal, ‘carrier of last resort’ responsibilities. In this aetiolated, residualist policy gaze, citizens remain constructed as consumers in a very narrow sense in this incremental, quietist version of state securing of market arrangements. What is missing is any more expansive notion of citizens, their varied needs, expectations, uses, and cultural imaginings of ‘always on’ broadband networks. Hybrid Networks “Most people on earth will eventually have access to networks that are all switched, interactive, and broadband”, wrote Frances Cairncross in 1998. ‘Eventually’ is a very appropriate word to describe the parlous state of broadband technology implementation. Broadband is in a slow state of evolution and invention. The story of broadband so far underscores the predicament for Australian access to bandwidth, when we lack any comprehensive, integrated, effective, and fair policy in communications and information technology. We have only begun to experiment with broadband technologies and understand their evolving uses, cultural forms, and the sense in which they rework us as subjects. Our communications networks are not superhighways, to invoke an enduring artefact from an older technology. Nor any longer are they a single ‘public’ switched telecommunications network, like those presided over by the post-telegraph-telephone monopolies of old. Like roads themselves, or the nascent postal system of the sixteenth century, broadband is a patchwork quilt. The ‘fibre’ of our communications networks is hybrid. To be sure, powerful corporations dominate, like the Tassis or Taxis who served as postmasters to the Habsburg emperors (Briggs & Burke 25). Activating broadband today provides a perspective on the path dependency of technology history, and how we can open up new threads of a communications fabric. Our options for transforming our multitudinous networked lives emerge as much from everyday tactics and strategies as they do from grander schemes and unifying policies. We may care to reflect on the waning potential for nation-building technology, in the wake of globalisation. We no longer gather our imagined community around a Community Telephone Plan as it was called in 1960 (Barr, Moyal, and PMG). Yet we do require national and international strategies to get and stay connected (Barr), ideas and funding that concretely address the wider dimensions of access and use. We do need to debate the respective roles of Telstra, the state, community initiatives, and industry competition in fair telecommunications futures. Networks have global reach and require global and national integration. Here vision, co-ordination, and resources are urgently required for our commonweal and moral fibre. To feel the width of the band we desire, we need to plug into and activate the policy circuits. Thanks to Grayson Cooke, Patrick Lichty, Ned Rossiter, John Pace, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments. Works Cited Alston, Richard. ‘ “Future Proofing” Regional Communications.’ Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Canberra, 2003. 17 July 2003 <http://www.dcita.gov.au/Article/0,,0_1-2_3-4_115485,00.php> —. ‘A National Broadband Strategy.’ Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Canberra, 2003. 17 July 2003 <http://www.dcita.gov.au/Article/0,,0_1-2_3-4_115486,00.php>. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Broadband Services Report March 2003. Canberra: ACCC, 2003. 17 July 2003 <http://www.accc.gov.au/telco/fs-telecom.htm>. —. Emerging Market Structures in the Communications Sector. 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MLA Style Goggin, Gerard. "Broadband" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture< http://www.media-culture.org.au/0308/02-featurebroadband.php>. APA Style Goggin, G. (2003, Aug 26). Broadband. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 6,< http://www.media-culture.org.au/0308/02-featurebroadband.php>