HIERARCHY OF REGULATORY ACTS: CURRENT STATE AND RELEVANT ISSUES ; ІЄРАРХІЯ НОРМАТИВНО-ПРАВОВИХ АКТІВ: СУЧАСНИЙ СТАН ТА АКТУАЛЬНІ ПИТАННЯ

Abstract

Relevance of the paper. One of the most important classifications of regulatory acts is their classification according to legal force. It is legal force of the legal act that determines the place it occupies in the hierarchical (vertical) structure of the current legislation. According to Article 1 of the Constitution of Ukraine, Ukraine is a social and legal state. Back in 2001, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine clearly stated: ". in a legal state there is a strict hierarchy of regulatory acts .", but until now the hierarchy of regulatory acts is not legally established. Besides, between the separate laws of Ukraine, including those defining the status and powers of the public administration bodies, there is inconsistency regarding their place according to their legal force. There is no consensus on this issue in the scientific literature. It negatively affects the state of law in the state. Consequently, the relevance of this article is conditioned by the existing collisions in the legislation of Ukraine regarding the hierarchy of regulatory acts.The purpose of the article is the study of the current state of the hierarchical place of regulatory acts in the current legislation of Ukraine, the identification of collisions in it and the justification of proposals for their elimination.Body of the paper. Most Ukrainian scholars insist that the codes have the same legal force as the laws. However, some Ukrainian codes, in particular the Civil Code of Ukraine, the Budget Code of Ukraine, contain articles about their higher legal force. However, there are no such norms in other codes of Ukraine, therefore it should be noted: it can not be that in one branch of law the codified law has a higher legal force, and in the other it has not. Consequently, the issue of the legal force of codified and un-codified laws requires legislative regulation.The question arises as to the legal force of the resolutions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the decrees of the President of Ukraine (that is resolutions of the Parliament and decrees of the President of Ukraine of elusively regulatory nature). For example, in Article 113 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine "On the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine" the preference is given to the resolutions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, but in the Law of Ukraine "On Civil Service", on the contrary - to the decrees of the President of Ukraine.Conclusions. Until now, neither the Constitution of Ukraine nor other legislative acts define the hierarchy of certain regulatory acts, and therefore the scientific literature raises justified questions regarding their legal force. The current laws of Ukraine regulating the activities of public authorities solve these issues differently. And in law enforcement activities, including the issues on resolving litigation, the key role is played by subjectivity of a law enforcer. Eliminating this gap is possible only in one way that is by adopting the Law of Ukraine "On Regulatory Acts", which, among other issues, should clearly define the hierarchy of regulatory acts. ; У статті досліджено сучасний стан та актуальні питання ієрархії нормативно-правових актів в Україні. Підкреслено, що саме юридична сила нормативно-правового акта визначає місце, яке він займає в ієрархічній (вертикальній) структурі чинного законодавства. Проаналізовано зміст окремих законів України, в т.ч. таких, що регламентують діяльність органів публічної влади, та доведено, що між ними існують неузгодженості щодо розташування нормативно-правових актів за юридичною силою, а на практиці вирішальним тут є суб'єктивізм правозастосовника, в т.ч. і при прийнятті судових рішень. В цілому це негативно впливає на стан законності в державі. Обґрунтована необхідність законодавчого закріплення ієрархії нормативно-правових актів.