Supervisory and Regulatory Functions of Federal Executive Bodies: Problems of Differentiation in the Context of Administrative Reform

The article deals with the problems of differentiation between control and regulatory (rule-making) functions of federal ministries and federal services. Analyzing the logic of differentiating the functions in question within the framework of the administrative reform carried out in Russia in 2004, the author highlights, on the one hand, the reduction of the influence of corruption factors on the process of departmental rule-making as a positive effect of the reform, and reduction of efficiency in the preparation of normative legal acts, the negative impact of disagreements and contradictions between federal ministries and Federal services on the process and the results of rule-making. The author proposes to limit regulatory powers of regulatory authorities in terms of their adoption of normative legal acts regulating foreign relations, i.e. the activities of controlled entities, as well as regulating the procedure of control (supervision). At the same time, in the author’s opinion, it is irrational to limit the powers of federal services concerning adoption of normative legal acts of intra-organizational nature or aimed at regulating human resources issues and issues of providing social guarantees to officers of governmental agencies. The author concludes that improvement of the structure of federal executive agencies and the differentiation of functions between them should be carried out on the basis of functional and procedural reforms providing for the adoption of federal laws on normative legal acts and on state control (supervision). It is expedient to exclude from the rule-making from functions forming the basis for determining the types of federal agencies of executive power in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 09, 2004 No. 314 “On the System and Structure of Federal Executive Bodies.”