Principles of public service provision: system and content.

Fialkovskaya Irina Dmitrievna ORCID: 0000-0002-3322-2940 PhD in Law Associate Professor, Department of Administrative and Financial Law, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod 603000, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Nizhny Novgorod, Prospekt Gagarina str., 23 i.fialk@yandex.ru

The principles of the implementation of various types of government activities have always been carefully studied by legal scholars. The principles of the state structure, the principles of the legal process, and the principles of justice are studied in legislation and the science of public law. In the theory of administrative law, considerable attention is paid to the principles of public administration, administrative proceedings, and state control (supervision) 1^{[1, pp.34-37; 2, pp.57-58; 3, pp.138-142]}. Despite the difference between these types of activities, their relationship as "general and private", the private has all the properties of the general ^{[4, p.62]}.

The principle is a complex phenomenon containing a pattern, a fundamental attitude, a relationship, as well as knowledge about these phenomena. Depending on the type of government activity, the structure of the principles differs, but their general content mostly coincides. Separately, the literature examines the issue of normative consolidation of principles. The legislative regulation of the system of principles in the sphere of power brings certainty and stability to the relevant legal relations.  The principles of any direction of public activity or part of it reflect objective patterns, correspond to an integral social phenomenon ^{[5, pp.264-265]}. There is no doubt that these provisions fully apply to the principles of providing public services, as an important independent part of state and municipal activities.

There is no concept of a public service in Russian legislation. However, in the literature in connection with the administrative reform, discussions on the content of the legal structure of this concept are actively conducted ^{[6, 7, 8]}.

Thus, according to Yu. A. Tikhomirov, public services are defined as "legally and socially significant actions in the interests of society, the state and citizens" related to "public functions of the state and the activities of state structures with certain competence" ^{[6, p.200]}. However, in this definition, a public service is directly related to the activities of government agencies. It seems that in this definition the concept (public service) does not correspond to the content (activities of government agencies). In general, the public sphere refers to the activities of competent authorities with external powers. These clearly include public authorities and local governments, as well as some organizations that implement external functions (state or municipal) ^{[8, p.50]}. Therefore, the content of a public service cannot be limited only to state activities.

The provision of services is a type of social legal relations, the participants of which are a public authority as a guarantor of the realization of rights, and the population as a bearer of social rights ^{[7, p. 19]}. This opinion seems to be quite fair and logical. The competent authorities exercise their powers to carry out various functions of public authority, including the provision of state and municipal services.

It seems to be the most correct general understanding of public services as a system of state and municipal services, in the implementation of which the powers of state and local bodies are realized ^{[9, p.16]}. This provision is fully confirmed by the law, which establishes exactly such types of services.

The legal basis of the activity in question is Federal Law No. 210-FZ "On the organization of the provision of State and Municipal services" dated 07/27/2010 (hereinafter FZ-210), which defines the main provisions of this area of the public sphere. The subject of regulation is the relations arising in connection with the provision of state and municipal services, respectively, by federal executive authorities, bodies of state extra-budgetary funds, executive bodies of state power of the subjects of the Russian Federation, as well as local administrations and other local self-government bodies exercising executive and administrative powers (paragraph 1. art.1. FZ-210). These bodies and organizations are conventionally called service providers.

An important feature of the provision of public services is the application procedure, i.e. the attitude towards the provision of public services can arise only on the initiative of an individual or legal entity. It is on this basis that the concepts of "public function" and "public service" differ.

V. V. Avdeev, researching the provision of public services in foreign countries, draws attention to the opinion found in the literature that any interaction between the state and a citizen is a public service. The system of public services includes, for example, standard-setting activities, control and supervision activities, and even the detention of an individual in penitentiary institutions ^[10]. It is impossible to agree with this position, since the law clearly establishes the possibility of a service provision relationship only on the initiative of an individual or legal entity (applicant). And these examples of power activities are state functions. A public function can be implemented both on the initiative of a government entity and in the interests of a private person at his request. For example, control and supervisory measures are the implementation of an exclusively public function, since they are carried out only on the initiative of a government entity - a state or municipal body. And the permissive activity of the state (licensing, accreditation, privatization, etc.) is both a public function and actions for the provision of public services.

Thus, a public service is the implementation of a state or municipal function, which is carried out on the initiative of applicants – individuals and legal entities who have made a request to the competent authorities and organizations in writing, orally or electronically.

Based on this definition, it is possible to distinguish the composition of the legal relationship for the provision of a public service: initiator of legal relations – individuals and legal entities, that is, applicants; subjects of service provision – public authorities and authorized organizations with public functions;the object of legal relations is the commission of a legally significant action or the issuance of a law enforcement act; the purpose of providing services is to satisfy the applicant's interest.

As it was said, the legal literature presents a variety of groups of principles of various types of public activity. At the same time, the most common is the division of principles into general, underlying the entire state sphere, and special - the system of such principles depends on the specific direction of public authority ^{[4, p.68; 11, pp.34-37]}.

This classification is quite applicable to the principles of public service provision. The general principles of the type of activity under study include the principles of legality, federalism, respect for human rights, transparency, protection of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens, and efficiency. The general principles have been repeatedly disclosed in the scientific literature and their detailed study is not included in the subject of this work. Special principles for the presentation of public (state and municipal) services and their interaction with general legal principles deserve some attention.

Article 4 of the Federal Law 210 establishes a list of principles in force in the field of public services.

1. The principle of legality of the provision of public services.

This principle means that the subjects of the provision of public services in their activities are guided by federal laws, other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation adopted in accordance with them, laws and other normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation, municipal legal acts. The list of entities authorized to provide public services is exhaustive, i.e. other government structures (state or municipal) located outside this list are not entitled to provide public services.  In addition, Article 7 of FZ-210 establishes that government entities cannot make demands to applicants that are not provided for by the rules for providing public services. The implementation of the principle of legality is ensured by the right to appeal against illegal actions in the process of providing public services, which is an important legal guarantee (paragraph 4 of Article 5 of FZ-210).

This principle is directly related to and follows from the general principle of legality – the requirement of strict enforcement of the law, the established procedure, the rights and legitimate interests of the applicant. The legal order of the public sphere is an important condition for its legality, efficiency and rationality ^{[5, p.273]}.

In the literature, there is an opinion on understanding legality more broadly than legality and, in this regard, on the need to rename the principle of legality of providing public services to the principle of legality generally recognized in legislation with its characteristic features in the sense established for administrative law ^{[12, p.336]}. This opinion is quite understandable, since legality is a fundamental principle of Russian statehood and is traditionally widely used in legislation on types of public activities. This position is most likely caused by the usual perception of the concept of legality and well-established legal formulations. However, the process of changing the name seems impractical. It seems that the principle of legality, by its characteristic, fully reflects the content of legality in the public sphere under consideration and does not need to be renamed.

2. The principle of the declarative procedure for obtaining public services.

This principle characterizes the voluntary nature of relations related to the provision of public services. The applicant occupies a primary place in public service relations, since he is the initiator of such relations. It can be noted that this principle corresponds to the foundations of the formation of a socially oriented state in Russia. Targeting the provision of public services is an important feature of this type of activity. The applicant, if he needs to receive a public service, directly applies to the appropriate service provision structure, while no competent permission is required to apply for the service. The law establishes that the applicant has the right to receive a public service in accordance with the standards (paragraph 1 of Article 5 of FZ-210) and within the prescribed period. This right of applicants corresponds to the obligation of the service provider to act in accordance with the administrative regulations (paragraph 1 of Article 6 of FZ-210). In addition, bodies providing public services do not have the right to require documents and information from the applicant, or to carry out actions not provided for by regulatory legal acts regulating relations for the provision of relevant services (paragraph 1 of Article 7 of FZ-210).

According to Z. K. Babayeva, this principle is unreasonably included in the list of principles of providing services, since submitting an application is the basis for providing services, the principle of receiving them, and not providing them ^{[12, p.337]}. However, the actions of submitting an application are an element of the procedure, the initiation of a relationship, its first stage; the principles underlie all activities and are not divided into stages of the process. The establishment of an application procedure as a basic principle for the provision of public services is well-founded and does not contradict the logic of the type of activity under consideration.

3. The principle of the legality of charging applicants state fees and fees for the provision of public services.

As a general rule, state and municipal services are provided to applicants free of charge (paragraph 1 of Article 8 of FZ-210), however, the law establishes the circumstances under which applicants are charged. At the same time, providing the service to the recipient free of charge does not mean that such actions are free for the service provider.

This principle means fixing the grounds and amount of monetary payment for the provision of certain types of public services by a regulatory legal act. The fee from the applicants is taken in order to cover the costs that the subjects of public services had to incur in connection with the performance of this duty. The most common form of payment in this area is the state fee, which is levied in accordance with tax legislation. Articles 8 and 9 of FZ-210 establish the requirements on the basis of which the applicant pays for the provision of public services. The lists of cases and the amount of fees for the provision of public services depend on the level of the service provider and are established by the appropriate level of legislation: federal, regional or municipal. The budget for financing the service also depends on this.

Here it seems reasonable to consider renaming this principle based on the following arguments. The term "legality" is used for the second time in the system of principles. Due to the social significance of such a phenomenon as the "legal principle", the duplication of terminology in definitions seems incorrect. It is proposed to state this principle as "the validity of charging applicants a state fee and a fee for the provision of public services." Reasonableness includes legality, motivation, and confirmation by serious evidence and convincing arguments. First of all, the determination of the basis and amount of the fee charged to applicants should be based on reasonableness. In this form, the law looks more logical and sustained.

 It is possible to support the opinion on the definition and establishment of the All-Russian minimum social standard for the provision of gratuitous services of special public importance. In any case, such services are provided at the expense of budgets of all levels or extra-budgetary funds ^{[13, p.313]}. In addition, it is allowed to establish the right of the executive authorities of the subjects of the federation and local governments to supplement this list at their own level, taking into account the capabilities of the region or municipality.

4. The principle of openness of the activities of entities providing public services.

When providing public services, applicants have the right to receive complete, up-to-date and reliable information about the procedure for providing services (clause 2 of Article 5 of Federal Law 210). This also applies to the provision of services in electronic form (clause 1 of Article 10 of the Federal Law 210). It is important to note that in this context, the requirements of Federal Law No. 8-FZ dated February 9, 2009 "On Ensuring access to information on the activities of State Bodies and Local Self-government bodies" (Part 1 of Article 2) are also taken into account. In addition, Federal Law No. 149-FZ of July 27, 2006 "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" stipulates that state bodies and local governments are obliged to provide access to information about their activities in Russian and the official language of the relevant republic within the Russian Federation, including using information and telecommunication networks. At the same time, a person wishing to gain access to such information is not obliged to justify the need to obtain it (part 5 of Article 8 of the said law).

In this aspect, some authors highlight the principle of combining openness (publicity) and non-disclosure of certain information. Openness does not apply to cases where this may lead to the disclosure of state, commercial, official or other legally protected secrets, as well as cases where this is required by the interests of ensuring the rights, legitimate interests and safety of applicants, protecting their honor, dignity, and business reputation ^{[11, p.627]}. This opinion deserves some support.

5. The principle of accessibility of access to public services, including for persons with disabilities. 

One of the important areas of administrative reform is to improve the quality and accessibility of public services. To achieve this goal, the following measures have been carried out and successfully implemented: the introduction of administrative regulations and standards for the provision of public services, the implementation of the principle of "one window" in the provision of services, the active and widespread use of the electronic form of service provision. As a result, the interaction between the state and citizens has been simplified, and the level of accessibility of applicants to public services has been significantly increased. Multifunctional centers (MFCs) play a significant role in the practical implementation of this principle. An MFC is a state or municipal institution that organizes the provision of public services on the principle of a "one-stop shop" and operates on the basis of an agreement with a public service provider. The provision of services through the IFC is one of the main ways of decentralized provision of public services. The creation and increase in the number of multifunctional centers is due to such properties of citizens' interaction with public administration as quality, accessibility, efficiency, and efficiency. MFCs have a special administrative and legal status with a wide range of powers, including making decisions on the provision or refusal to provide services ^{[8, p.146]}. It is assumed that accessibility includes several parameters: territorial accessibility (an affordable place to receive a service), financial accessibility (the affordable cost of a service fee), information accessibility (the ability to receive a service without the need for additional consultations).

 The creation of necessary conditions for the provision of public services for people with disabilities and persons with disabilities is essential in the implementation of the principle of accessibility. Federal Law No. 181-FZ of November 24, 1995 "On Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities in the Russian Federation" establishes requirements for creating a barrier-free environment and conditions for such persons to access service organizations (Articles 14-15). These conditions include a comfortable and convenient arrangement of the internal premises and adjacent territories of organizations providing public services. Currently, it is possible to note the gradual introduction of these requirements into everyday life. 

One of the constituent elements of the accessibility of public services is the extraterritorial principle of their receipt. This principle implies the applicant's right to apply to any body providing such services, regardless of the place of residence or place of residence of this person.

6. The principle of the possibility of obtaining public services in electronic form or other forms at the applicant's choice.

This principle is directly related to the principle of accessibility of services, since the interaction of the service provider and the applicant is greatly simplified in the electronic space in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the entire process. In accordance with this principle, applicants have the right to receive state and municipal services in electronic form, unless prohibited by law, as well as in other forms provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation (paragraph 3 of Article 5 of FZ-210). In addition, the law establishes the obligation of the service provider to provide the applicant with the opportunity to interact in electronic form, as well as the requirements for the organization of electronic interaction (paragraph 2 of Article 6 of FZ-210, Article 10 of FZ-210).

Digital relations between entities providing public services and applicants are carried out using information technology through the portal of state and municipal services — this is a state information system that provides public services in electronic form, as well as applicants' access to information about public services using the Internet information and telecommunications network. This information is posted in state and municipal information systems that ensure the maintenance of registers of relevant services (clause 7 of Article 2 of FZ-210).

Electronic interaction is the best service aimed at increasing the mobility of applicants and the effectiveness of the activities of service providers. In general, the use of electronic technologies should help radically reduce the time required to provide services, eliminate queues when applying for services, reduce their cost in the future, increase transparency in the process of providing them, and improve other parameters of the quality of public services ^{[14, p.61]}.

One of the problems of the development of the information society in Russia is the insufficient level of literacy in the field of information technology, the lack of mass interactive interaction of citizens and organizations with subjects of public services. The State should create conditions for increasing citizens' access to information technologies. Now the problem of citizens' access to the Internet continues to be relevant, and this prevents the receipt of services in electronic form. Also, not all state and municipal services have been digitized, and the possibility of obtaining them is difficult, including due to ineffective interdepartmental electronic interaction or its complete absence. 

It seems to be true that the principles enshrined in law, by virtue of their purpose, "determine the practical limits of the operation of the norms of law, their correlation with the scope of other norms" ^{[15, p.75]}.

Considering the provision of public services in foreign countries and comparing them with the peculiarities of this activity in Russia, V.V. Avdeev notes that in our country, traditionally, the main provisions are fixed in legislation, which takes into account all legitimate possibilities. However, proper consumer orientation is not enough. This orientation should be aimed at providing the applicant with the necessary service in a high-quality and timely manner. Therefore, it is necessary to form a system of basic principles for the provision of public services, expanding the list established by law ^[10].      

Indeed, from the point of view of the effectiveness of the provision of services, the system could be supplemented by some principles aimed at improving the type of activity under consideration. It is proposed to legislate the principles of efficiency, quality of service provision and responsibility of service providers.

The principle of efficiency is that the necessary actions to provide a public service should be carried out as soon as possible ^{[4, 112]}. The principle of efficiency contains two beginnings: the beginning of speed and the beginning of economy, in which the provision of public services should be carried out with minimal financial and time costs.  The principle of providing services in electronic form, discussed above, also serves to implement the principle of efficiency.

The principle of ensuring the quality of service provision is one of the most important guarantees of the rights of recipients.  This principle includes two main provisions: the quality of decision-making and the quality of the organization of conditions for the provision of services. In this sense, the quality of the organization of activities corresponds to the principle of accessibility established by law, and the proposed principle of prompt receipt of services, including for persons with disabilities. At the same time, the principle of quality assurance should not contradict the principle of prompt provision of services, and vice versa. Thus, the decision must be made quickly and efficiently.

The principle of responsibility of the service provider is the proper exercise of authority to consider applicants' appeals, including complaints, under threat of administrative or disciplinary liability. The service provider has a special administrative and legal status, performs a certain state or municipal function, interacts with individuals and legal entities in its activities. He is charged with the duty to protect both the public interest and the rights of applicants.

Thus, the addition of Article 4 of FZ-210 to the principles of efficiency, quality and responsibility will be an important guarantee of the protection of the rights of citizens and organizations when they receive public services.

According to G. V. Atamanchuk, legal principles interact with each other, and such interaction of principles exists within their integral system in which they reveal their regulatory abilities. Only in the system does each principle express its individuality and the limits of its specific application ^{[5, p.266]}. In this regard, it is important to briefly consider the relationship between general and special principles in the implementation of the right of applicants to provide public services. 

General and special principles interact with each other, since general principles are the legal basis for the practical implementation of special principles. Thus, the principle of legality in the field under consideration is implemented through the implementation of the principle of legality of the provision of services, the principle of reasonableness of charging fees, the principle of the declarative procedure for receiving services. The principle of legality is also correlated with the general principle of independence in decision-making within the framework of the powers granted. The general principle of transparency in these relations is implemented through the principle of openness of the activities of service providers established in the law. The principle of federalism is implemented through the legislative delimitation of powers for the provision of public services by federal, regional and municipal bodies and relevant organizations. The principles of respect for human rights and protection of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens are implemented through the principle of accessibility of access to public services. Finally, the principle of efficiency is directly implemented, including through the principle of electronic interaction between service providers and applicants.

Also, special principles are connected and interact with each other, and some principles may follow from others, or serve as a condition for their implementation. Thus, the right to electronic appeal is directly related to the principle of accessibility; the declarative procedure of appeal correlates with the principle of openness of entities providing public services; the principle of legality of the provision of services is fundamental in the field of activity under consideration and underlies the implementation of the remaining principles. 

Based on the results of the study, the following conclusions can be drawn.

It seems logical to define a public service as an activity for the implementation of a state or municipal function, which is carried out on the initiative of applicants – individuals and legal entities who have made a request to the competent authorities and organizations in writing, orally or electronically.  The legal relationship for the provision of a public service consists of mandatory elements: the participants in the legal relationship are the subject of the provision of the service and the applicant, the object of the legal relationship is a legal act (decision, action), the purpose is to satisfy the applicant's interest.

The question arises: should a legal definition of a public service be introduced into legislation? It seems that so far there is no special need for this. The legislation currently establishes the concepts of state and municipal services, as well as a list of entities implementing each of them. Our legislation is characterized by voluminous detailed regulation and cumbersome formulations, and therefore the introduction of another concept into the regulatory sphere of this activity may cause certain difficulties for law enforcement officers due to excessive regulation and overload of terms. In legal science, this term has been widely used for a long time ^{[7, 8, 9]} and, it can be assumed, will be actively used further.

The system of special principles for the provision of public services established in the law (art. 4 FZ-210) seems incomplete and requires the introduction of additional principles. From the point of view of ensuring the rights of citizens and in order to meet their interests in a high-quality and timely manner, it is proposed to include in this list the principles of efficiency, quality of service provision and responsibility of service providers.

In addition, it seems correct to rename the principle of the legality of charging state fees and fees from applicants to the principle of the reasonableness of charging state fees and fees for the provision of public services to applicants. Such a statement, firstly, excludes unjustified repetition of formulations, and secondly, more specifically and objectively characterizes this important principle both from the point of view of legality and from the point of view of accessibility of services.

In the activity under consideration, it is possible to talk about the presence of general and special principles. General principles underlie all state activities and are established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal and regional laws, other normative acts of Russia and its subjects, as well as municipal legal acts. Special principles specify the sphere of public administration in terms of obtaining public services for citizens and organizations at their request. At the same time, general and special principles interact with each other and work most effectively in a complex. 

 Therefore, a distinctive feature of the system of principles, including in the provision of public services, is their correlation. When characterizing a principle, it is necessary to take into account its relationship with other principles, their complementarity and dependence on them.