Urgent issues of legal regulation in the field of protection of population and territories in emergency situations

About the author:

Maxim S. Demchenko, Postgraduate student of the Department of Theoretical and Public Law Disciplines of University of Tyumen; max-de.demchenko@ya.ru; ORCID: 0000-0001-7720-515X

Abstract:

On January 30, 2020, the spread of a new coronavirus infection was declared an international emergency by the World Health Organization. The state authorities of the Russian Federation have developed measures aimed at minimizing and eliminating the consequences caused by coronavirus infection, which in turn caused the need for rapid changes and additions to the regulatory framework in the field of protecting the population and territories from emergency situations.

The question on the features of the emergency and high-alert mode, as well as the legality of restrictions on individual rights and freedoms introduced in the high-alert mode, has caused a scientific discussion in the field of protecting the population and territories from emergency situations. In this article, the author examines changes in legislation in this field, offers his interpretation of the basis and features of the legal regulation of the high-alert mode and restrictions on the rights and freedoms of an individual associated with the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection.

According to the author, taking into account the current epidemiological situation, Federal Law No. 68-FZ of December 21, 1994, “On the protection of the population and territories from natural and man-made emergencies” needs prompt and consistent changes in order to fully and comprehensively ensure the rights and freedoms of an individual. For example, it is necessary to introduce the concept of a biological and social emergency as one of the types of emergency situations that fall under legislative regulation. Analyzing the current legislation for legality of the introduced high-alert mode and restrictions on individual rights and freedoms, it is concluded that the existing mechanism for restricting individual rights and freedoms does not fully comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Regarding the current epidemiological situation, it should be considered as an emergency situation with the need for introducing an appropriate mode.

The research methodology is based on both general scientific and specific scientific methods of cognition: formal-logical, systematic, formal-legal, comparative, dialectical, predictive, modeling method, etc.

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