VIEWS ON THE CONCEPT AND PURPOSE OF LICENSING OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to provide definitions of the concepts of “licensing” and “licence” and to identify the main purpose of licensing of economic activities with a view to further clarifying the relevant regulatory framework. Research methods. To achieve this goal, the article uses the following research methods: comparative legal, legal and legal, analytical and synthetic, systemic and structural, and others. Results. The article provides the doctrinal definitions of the concepts of “licensing” and “licence” formulated by various legal scholars, as well as the legal definitions of these concepts provided in the General Law of Ukraine “On Licensing of Economic Activities” and special laws on various types of economic activities. Licensing is an integrated concept, defined through actions, activities, legal relations, obtaining permits, procedures, goals and objectives, etc. Often, licensing is recognised as a set of actions of authorised state authorities, a criterion or factor of compliance of an economic entity with certain conditions and characteristics, a means of state regulation of economic activity, etc. Accordingly, a licence is most often recognised as a permit or an act or document. The diversity and multi-vector nature of the definition of the very concept of licensing is due to the genesis of the licensing process for economic activities in Ukraine; interpretation of licensing due to its mixed nature as a means of regulatory influence of the State on the activities of economic entities or as an administrative procedure, or as a permit or right to carry out a certain type of activity, or as a means of legitimisation of economic entities, etc. Based on the diversity of the concepts of “licensing” and “licence”, the author outlines their characteristic features. The purpose of licensing is to use it as a way to legitimise economic entities or as a mandatory way to establish a certain type of economic entity, as an administrative procedure with the licence itself being recognised as a permit to carry out a certain type of economic activity. However, the most important or main purpose of licensing is to be used as a means of regulatory influence of the state on the activities of economic entities. The main purpose of licensing is to regulate by the state the manufacture of quality products, sale of quality goods, performance of quality works and provision of quality services. It is in this direction that amendments and additions to licensing legislation should be implemented.