Law Journal of the Higher School of Economics

In Search of the Regulatory Optimum for Digital Platforms: A Comparative Analysis

Aleksey Koshel — 2025-06-27

The rapid growth of digital platforms and ecosystems has become a significant economic phenomenon on a global scale. This growth is due to the ability of these platforms to provide additional and flexible opportunities that are mutually beneficial for sellers, buyers, and platform employees. As a result, the activities of digital platforms have a positive impact on the overall gross domestic product (GDP) of countries worldwide. However, the process of legally formalizing this phenomenon is lagging behind the economic development. This is because there is still a need for more effective regulations and policies to secure the safe and fair operation of digital platforms. Despite it, the potential benefits of digital platforms continue to outweigh the risks, making them an essential part of the global economy. Due to the need to investigate how the balance between legal and economic development on digital platforms is maintained, they are conceptualized as a novel form of organizing the exchange of goods and services. The focus of this study is on the regulatory and legal frameworks for digital platforms both in Russia and internationally, as well as on the rights and obligations of owners, operators, and users resulting from their participation in market transactions. The study presented does not include digital platforms used in the public sector or social media and messaging services. Comparative legal, formal logic, formal doctrinal, historical legal, as well as analytical, synthetic, and hermeneutical methods are systematically and integrally applied in this article. Based on the research materials, a hypothesis has been proposed regarding three stages of platform regulation globally and in Russia. During the analysis of the three-stage evolutionary process of legal regulation for e-commerce, it has been found that there is often an inconsistency in the impact of various branches of law. This inconsistency includes gaps and conflicts, which lead to unforeseen benefits for stakeholders instead of a systematic interaction within the regulatory framework. This is particularly evident in the lack of a consistent terminology and uniform regulatory principles that consider the specific characteristics of cross-industry digital economy legislation. Based on the experience of foreign countries and the results of three stages of electronic commerce regulation, within the framework of the third stage, platform economy has enabled authors to propose definite structures necessary for a comprehensive approach to the regulation of multidimensional activities on digital platforms. This concerns branches of civil, tax, competition, information, and administrative laws. Additionally, authors have developed a balanced concept of general principles for the transparent operation of digital platforms and their interaction with society, the state, and economic entities.

On the Legal Nature of the «Revenue Prescription»

Pavel Kabytov — 2025-06-27

An order to collect income from violations of antimonopoly legislation to the federal budget, or a «revenue order» remains one of the most controversial tools for implementing state antimonopoly policy, both from the point of view of its current legal regime and from the point of view of its legal nature. The intensification of the use of this tool in the law enforcement practice of antimonopoly authorities, in the context of the continuing pluralism of points of view in science and practice regarding the legal nature of the «revenue prescription», determines the need for a comprehensive study of the «revenue prescription» as a legal phenomenon. The article shows the dynamics of the legal regulation of the «income prescription» in chronological terms; systematizes the options, positions and arguments expressed in the scientific literature and court decisions regarding the legal nature of the «income prescription»; analyzes current legislation and law enforcement practice from the standpoint of domestic legal theory, the doctrine of civil and administrative law in order to unambiguously define the legal nature «income regulations» Special attention is paid in the article to the comparison of the characteristic features of the «income prescription» with the criteria developed in the science of law, which make it possible to distinguish and correlate «measures of state coercion», «measures of civil liability», «measures of administrative and restorative nature», «measures of administrative responsibility». Using the tools and positions of legal theory, the doctrine of civil and administrative law, as well as the exclusion method, the legal nature of the «income prescription» is determined (it is an administrative penalty, a measure of administrative and legal responsibility in the form of confiscation of the offender’s property). The article contains the results of an assessment of the compliance of the legal regime of the «income prescription» with the constitutional principles of establishing legal responsibility and industry legal regulation. The article also presents the results of an assessment of the compliance of the legal regime of the “income prescription” with the constitutional principles of establishing legal responsibility and industry legal regulation. Based on the results of this assessment, the authors conclude that the current legal regime of “income prescription” is inconsistent with constitutional provisions, including its inconsistency with the constitutionally entrenched principles of fairness and proportionality of legal responsibility, the principle of equality of everyone in front of the law, as well as the norms of the Constitution, that exclude the deprivation of property without a court decision.

Judicial Adaptation of International Commercial Contracts: Foreign Approaches and Russian Prospects

Olga Fonotova — 2025-06-27

Adaptation of a commercial contract provided for in international commercial law allows the court in exceptional cases to amend the terms of the contract in the event of the occurrence of circumstances that significantly affect the contract’s performance. An example of such circumstances are the unilateral sanctions restrictions that have affected international contracts involving Russian merchants, which brings the problem of adaptation into focus in the current Russian legal environment. The aim of the research is to identify the main models of contract adaptation by the court when applying the institute of hardship in international and foreign and to compare them with the Russian approach. The achieve the above the following objectives have been consistently reached: the concept of adaptation of an international contract was actualized, the latest approaches to judicial intervention in a contract in the main foreign legal orders (common law countries, France and Germany) were compared, legal grounds for contract modification by a court in the Russian legislation were identified and recent Russian court practice has been studied. The results were facilitated by the application of comparative legal technique with a predominance of functional method. Judicial intervention in a contract is an exceptional measure and is permissible in international turnover if there are sufficient grounds (in particular, those provided for in the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts). The basic approach here is centered on the priority of preserving the contractual relationship over termination of the contract by the court. In domestic turnover this measure is considered by legislators as extraordinary (France), or judicial intervention is not allowed at all by national law (the United Kingdom). However, some legal orders (Germany) take a position close to international commercial law, at the legislative level providing the court with quite wide opportunities to adapt a commercial contract. In Russian practice the approach of the courts has traditionally differed from the international standard, as the courts, based on the provisions of local civil law, preferred to terminate the contract in the event of a material change of circumstances. The recent years’ legal practice, dictated by the sanctions agenda, shows a shift of this vector towards judicial modification of the contract.

ESG Principles Implementation in the Russian Corporate Governance Model: Conditions, Issues and Prospects

Irina Aleshkova — 2025-06-27

The practice of implementing ESG principles related to the environment, society and corporate governance and aimed at achieving sustainable development goals is rapidly spreading around the world. These principles are increasingly considered as guidelines for managers, financial analysts, investors and other stakeholders in the development of socially oriented business. The authors present the features of the implementation of principles mentioned in the Russian corporate governance. It is noted that the emergence and widespread use of ESG principles maintains the development of social and environmental entrepreneurship focused on the common good. It is emphasized that ESG principles are interconnected with the principle of good faith in entrepreneurial activity and the principle of freedom of contract. Attention is drawn to the fact that the development of legal regulation governing responsible supply chains contributes to the spread of the practice of introducing ESG principles into corporate governance. The purpose of the study is to characterize the emerging model of implementing ESG principles in Russian corporate governance, review the practice of implementing these principles in Russian companies, identify issues and prospects for their development.

Increasing Bans in Financial Services Field: An Objective Necessity or Criminalization Redundancy?

Nina Skripchenko — 2025-06-27

Consistent criminalization of illegal activities related to attracting funds from citizens, providing consumer loans, and repaying overdue debts of individuals within the framework of independent offenses of Articles 172.2, 171.5, and 172.4 of the Criminal Code actualizes the need to assess the adequacy of the measures chosen by the state to respond to the illegal actions of financial service providers. Using general (analysis and synthesis, dialectics) and specific scholar methods (systemic-structural, formal legal, and statistical) of research knowledge to identify the determinism of socially deviant behavior regulation within framework of special norms and to determine constructive features of the offenses covered by them, the author is skeptical about prospects for implementing the new norms and criticizes the use of criminal law reserves to regulate the relevant relations. The casuistic nature of a criminal act definition covered by Article 172. 2 excludes application of this norm to transforming pyramid schemes for attracting funds. By incorporating into design of the offense of Article 171.5 a prejudicial element, without considering factors that exclude application of Article 14.56 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, the legislator has blocked the implementation of the ban in the context of the prevalence of offenses. The introduction of the amendments proposed by the author to the content of Article 14.56 and the revision of the law enforcement approach to determining the moment of termination of an administrative offense and debt collection under loan agreements will ensure the inevitability of liability of usurers and deprive them of profit, creating conditions for the reduction of the corresponding shadow sector of the economy and without an imperative regulator. Defining the composition of Article 172.4 of the Criminal Code as objectively similar to the composition of extortion imputed to collectors acting outside contractual relations, the legislator has deviated from the sample norm in determining the methods and qualifying features, which will entail different legal assessments and punishability of objectively similar acts, and also excludes consistent consistency of the new ban in increased censure of professional participants in the financial market. Assessing the legislator’s decision to establish liability for illegal activity to recover overdue debt as criminally excessive and unreasonably penalized, the author predicts judicial de-penalization of the relevant actions.

The Right for Image of a Citizen: Issues of Implementation

Ekaterina Khodyreva — 2025-06-27

The right to an image of a citizen is one of the personal rights that had relatively recently received legal formalization in the norms of the first part of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Due to the development of information technologies, the image of a citizen is exposed to additional risks of its illegal use, dissemination and distortion, which makes it an urgent task to study the legal regime of the right to an image and analyze the emerging law enforcement practice. Purpose: based on the analysis of doctrinal sources, norms of current Russian legislation, and practice of their application, to identify emerging legal problems and propose an optimal model for the legal regulation of image rights. Methods: general research and private scholar research methods were used: formal and dialectical logic, methods of description, comparison, interpretation, legal-dogmatic, historical and method of interpretation of legal norms. Results: an analysis of the norms of current legislation and the practice of their application has shown that a number of provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on image protection require clarification and elaboration. The courts have difficulties qualifying an interest as private or public, which is important for determining the limits of free use and dissemination of a citizen’s image. Disputes also arise in connection with the use of such categories as “a place open to the public” and “a public event”. The possibility of exercising the right to an image after the death of its bearer actualizes the issue of the legal nature of personal rights. The use of an image (as well as a name) after the death of a person for commercial purposes can generate income, which does not fit into the acting model of personal non-property rights. Conclusions: the right to an image (as well as the right to a name) occupies a special place in the system of personal rights. In the event of the death of the bearer, such rights do not cease. Questions about the legal nature of personal rights, the inclusion of the right to an image in the inheritance, and the determination of the place of the right to a digital image in the system of personal rights and digital rights need in further study.

Legal Algorithms for the Formation of the Subject of Evidence for Crimes in the Field of Digital Economy and Finance

Vladimir Prorvich — 2025-06-27

For proper law enforcement in crimes in the field of digital economy and finance, the use of mutual connections between criminal and criminal procedural legislation, creating a unified legal foundation for criminal proceedings, is of particular importance. The article reveals the features of the application of certain sets of provisions of the current legislation in the form of legal algorithms, the proper use of which allows to form a detailed description of the subject of proof, as well as to apply systems of legal identities for their use in establishing the limits of proof in relevant criminal cases. Scientifically based approaches to establishing the structure and content of information that has a legal status in each of the evidence obtained during the investigation of criminal cases are described. On their basis, algorithms for presenting evidence in the form of one-dimensional and multidimensional matrices have been developed, the content of which is standardized based on the features of the crimes of the type under consideration and the circumstances subject to proof in these criminal cases. This allows for their proper verification and assessment, as well as establishing the sufficiency of the collected set of evidence. The information structure of such legal algorithms implements “simple” systems of legal identities aimed at establishing the sufficiency of data that correspond to the signs of the crime (which allows making a decision to initiate a criminal case), as well as “double” systems of legal identities that allow establishing the sufficiency of the collected set of evidence at various stages of the criminal case investigation. The features of hierarchical systems of legal algorithms developed to identify signs of committed sets of crimes in the sphere of economics and computer information with “cross” forms of complicity are disclosed. They are aimed at identifying, based on the results of the investigation, the corresponding crimes committed by each of the accomplices. Approaches to the scientific substantiation of proposals to amend and supplement to Part 6 of the Criminal Procedure Code regulating the procedure for processing electronic information using certified software for obtaining evidence and proving crimes in the field of digital rights are discussed.

Lien as a Procedural Security Measure in Insolvency Proceedings in Russia and Germany

Tatiana Shishmareva — 2025-06-27

The legal status of mortgagees and the specifics of meeting their claims in insolvency proceedings are of particular interest for research due to the privileged position of such creditors. However, the issue of bail is little studied in the Russian doctrine. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the legal nature of the right to arrest collateral and its priority in insolvency (bankruptcy) legal relations based on an analysis of legislation, doctrine and established judicial practice in comparison with the legislative model of the right to arrest collateral at the insolvency institute in Germany. The appeal to the legislation and doctrine of Germany predetermined the use of the method of comparative studies in order to understand the doctrine of the right of arrest bail and its consolidation in legislation. The historical and legal method is of no small importance for analyzing the legal structure of the right of arrest bail. The methods of interpretation, synthesis, and teleological method make it possible to identify the legislator’s goal of introducing the right of arrest bond. The German and Russian legal systems are quite close, especially in the field of property rights regulation, therefore, the German legal system is of particular importance for the implementation of successful legislative structures. First of all, the essence of the law of bail is investigated, which is the subject of discussion both in Germany and in Russia. The conclusion is made about the arrest pledge as having a public-legal nature of phenomena, in contrast to the right of pledge regulated in private law. A gap has been identified in the legal regulation of the status of a creditor from private law relations who secured his claims against the debtor by seizing his property in enforcement proceedings. It is recognized the priority established in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation for satisfying the claims of authorized bodies as creditors of an insolvent debtor in bankruptcy proceedings, based on the security function of seizing a taxpayer’s property, leads to a violation of the balance of private and public interests in the absence of the same right for bankruptcy creditors. It is proposed to regulate the grounds for the emergence of the right of arrest collateral, which has a special nature, in the Federal Law On Enforcement Proceedings, assigning priority to the holders of such a right and in bankruptcy proceedings with certain restrictions.

International Legal Foundations of Interaction Between International Organizations: Theory and Contemporary Challenges

Peter Chuvakhin — 2025-06-27

The article presents a comprehensive study of the theoretical and legal foundations of inter-organizational relations in international law. The research analyzes the legal nature of relations between international organizations as a manifestation of their international legal personality and an essential element of the modern international legal order. The historical evolution of international legal regulation of these relations is examined, from the League of Nations period through the post-war formation of the UN system to modern complex forms of interaction. Based on a systematic analysis of international legal acts and practice of interaction between international organizations, a multi-level classification of inter-organizational cooperation forms has been developed according to legal nature (contractual, institutional, functional), degree of formalization (formalized and informal), content (normative, operational, institutional), sphere of activity, and interaction pattern (coordination, subordination, cooperation). The legal foundations of inter-organizational relations are thoroughly examined, including statutory provisions of organizations, various types of inter-organizational agreements, and acts of international organizations’ bodies. The main legal forms of cooperation are considered in detail: membership of some organizations in others, observer status and other forms of participation in the work of bodies, representation of international organizations, and the establishment of joint bodies, programs, and projects. Special attention is paid to the legal regulation of relations between universal and regional organizations, with four models identified: subordination, coordination, complementarity, and competition. Using practical cases (UNAMID, interaction between WTO and IMF, hybrid peacekeeping missions), the article analyzes key legal problems of inter-organizational cooperation: delimitation of competence, distribution of international responsibility, institutional fragmentation, asymmetry of influence, and insufficient transparency. Approaches to resolving problem of competing competence between organizations are examined, including inter-organizational agreements, principles of specialization and hierarchy. The research demonstrates the impact of contemporary global challenges (digitalization, COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis) on the transformation of legal mechanisms for interaction between international organizations. The author proposes specific directions for improving the legal regulation of inter-organizational relations, including the development of more detailed agreements, creation of a unified legal framework for regulating joint bodies and programs, and formation of independent mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the purpose of cooperation.

Jurisprudence and Socio-Legal Studies

Mikhail Antonov — 2025-06-27

The review examines the main ideas of the newest book by Professor Cotterrell aimed at showing key points of intersection and common interest of jurisprudence and socio-legal studies, which are otherwise typically considered as distinct fields. It reflects and draws on the author’s work in these areas almost five decades. The book’s author discusses the issue of the division between Is and Ought, arguing in jurisprudence and other social sciences this division does not prevent interdisciplinary research. Theoretical jurisprudence should, according to Professor R. Cotterrell, go beyond abstract schemes and reasoning, beyond formal conceptual and doctrinal analysis. The schemes and concepts developed by legal science should be based on social reality and, moreover, reflect the diversity of this reality, which in the legal sphere finds its expression in legal pluralism. The book begins from exploring theoretical issues surrounding the enterprise of socio-legal research, its current scope, and its historical traditions, and directly compare juristic theory and socio-legal inquiry. Further, the reviewed book analyses the works of Ehrlich and other important founding fathers of legal sociology who offered important insights for socio-legal inquiry. The concluding chapters explore the history of interactions between jurisprudence and socio-legal research, and show points of convergence between these fields are increasingly important today. A main aim of the book is to show the current urgency of broadening juristic and social scientific interests in law.