On the question of the quasi-consumer character of the relationship relating to the provision of administrative services in the field of construction
Authors: Turovets Yu. 
Published: February 2023

In the article, the author examines the problems of digitalization of public services from the point of view of their consumer nature. The author singles out the signs of consumer relations through the prism of administrative services in the field of construction at the current stage of digitization of the provision of such services and the development of the concept of the service state, which is defined through the interaction of institutions of public authority and society, which is based on the effective provision of public services, the possibility of delegating functions for the provision of public services private sector.

The author points to a certain similarity of the concept of service within the framework of public service activities and civil legal relations, which allows us to further determine the possibility of extending the protection of consumer rights (or its components) to administrative relations in the field of construction.

In the article, the author characterizes such signs of consumer relations that are inherent, including, in administrative relations in the field of construction (voluntary nature (purpose), sphere of protection of public interests, reasons for their occurrence, payment, list of specific rights and responsibilities of the consumer). Regarding some of them, the author makes a reservation, taking into account the specifics of the researched services.

The author demonstrates the servility or a certain client-orientation of the state through the prism of the consumer nature of such relations through the prism of the social orientation of its goals, effectiveness for the object of management, the effectiveness of administrative services, the transparency of administrative procedures, the creation of comfortable conditions for receiving such services.

The author justifies that a feature of the public service state in the context of the consumer nature of administrative services should be the introduction of standards and regulations for the provision of public services, the use of "one (or single) window" technology when interacting with the state. In addition, certain norms of legislation on the protection of consumer rights should find their place in the legislation on administrative services in terms of information about them and their quality, as well as, probably, ways of protecting the recipients of such services as a potentially weaker side of the legal relationship compared to the state system.

The author notes the impossibility of a full comparison of the researched relations with consumer relations, since the legislation on the protection of consumer rights regulates a special circle of relations that applies exclusively to subjects of entrepreneurial activity and consumer-individuals, and administrative services in the field of construction, in turn, in the predominant most of them are provided by subjects of authority, and the recipients of such services are both natural and legal entities. The author concludes that it should be about quasi-consumer relations, taking into account their content and purpose.