LEGAL ASPECTS OF DEFINING THE TERM «SANCTIONS POLICY OF THE STATE»

Abstract

Introduction. In 2014 Ukraine had to urgently use all available tools to counter the open aggression of the Russian Federation, which began with the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. One of these tools was the application of restrictive measures stipulated by the urgently developed and adopted Law of Ukraine «On Sanctions».

The application of sanctions was further scaled up when the Russian Federation launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. The relevant activities of authorized entities in this area have acquired a systematic, orderly nature with defined goals, principles and organizational mechanisms, which gives grounds to state the formation of a specific direction of state policy in the security sphere.

Currently, in socio-political and scientific discourse, two terms are used as equivalent: «state sanctions policy» and «sanctions policy of the state». However, in the legislative sphere, neither of these terms has been implemented or normatively defined.

At the same time, despite terminological uncertainty, sanctions policy is consistently formed and implemented by state institutions. This makes scientific research in this area relevant, in particular in terms of forming an appropriate categorical apparatus.

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the content characteristics of the term «sanctions policy of the state» and to formulate its definition on this basis.

Results. The term «sanctions policy of the state», widely used in socio-political and scientific discourse, should be implemented into legislation by defining it as follows:

The sanctions policy of the state is a direction of state policy based on the principles of legality, transparency, objectivity, purposefulness and effectiveness, aimed at protecting the national interests, national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, countering terrorist activities, as well as preventing the violation and restoration of violated rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens of Ukraine, society and the state through the systematic application of special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) coordinated with partner states and international institutions, monitoring of their effectiveness and ensuring counteraction to circumvention of the applied restrictions by sanctioned entities.

The introduction of the specified term will correspond to established social practice and will make it possible to clearly outline the guidelines for the development and legal regulation of the direction of state policy indicated by it, which is relevant at the current stage.

Discussion. Further research will focus on various aspects of further improving the legal regulation of the application of special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions).