In international tax law, the concept of beneficial owner remains controversial. The lack of a single unified official definition creates serious difficulties both for the formation of national tax legislation. So is judicial practice. The concept of beneficial owner first appeared in trust law and, having evolved significantly, manifested itself in international tax law. The legal nature of the concept has been modified through its use within the framework of the DTT. The judicial and tax authorities of most countries give the concept an anti-evasive character and actively use it along with other norms of counteracting tax abuse. It is the judicial interpretation of this term that gives a certain degree of unification of its application both for the purposes of the OECD Model Convention and the UN Model Convention. It seems that the experience of judicial interpretation should be generalized and, on its basis, a universal concept of the beneficial owner with a list of essential elements should be developed. Based on the analysis of historical experience, theoretical studies and judicial practice, the article attempts to study the transformation of the term “beneficial owner”. The author's proposals for the unification of the beneficial owner concept in international acts are formulated in this article.

In the present article, on the basis of a concrete historical, comparative legal methodology of cognition of statelegal reality, the problems of constitutional and legal support of state sovereignty of Russia in the conditions of globalization of the modern world are investigated. In the process of the ongoing constitutional reform, the development of new methodological approaches to understanding the concept of state sovereignty and their further consolidation in the Constitution of the Russian Federation is of particular importance and relevance. Global problems pose a certain challenge to the modern world community, generate the need to protect national and universal values. The author believes that the growth of global problems has predetermined the search for specific ways and forms of a higher organization of the global world order in the conditions of preserving the sovereignty of states and protecting their national interests. The implementation of the main directions of the Russian constitutional reform, the adoption of amendments to the Russian Constitution ensures further constitutional consolidation of the state sovereignty of Russia, which contributes to strengthening the position of the Russian state in the international arena.

Formulation of the problem. Rapid global scientific and technological progress has an increasing impact on the quality of life and human health and urgently requires fundamental legal research in connection with the ethical consequences of the ongoing fundamental changes. Analysis of scientific trends and paradigms in the field of medical law and legal support of innovative biomedical technologies is the goal of this study. Goals and objectives. Modern innovations in the field of bioethics, which fundamentally change a person's attitude to the world and to himself, are ahead of the formation of appropriate legal decisions. The challenges and biomedical collisions that occurred to humanity by the middle of the 20th century and continue to this day lead to a violation of the harmony of nature and man. Additional, primarily legal, efforts are required to restore balance and ensure the future of humanity. The range of tasks of this research includes: to identify social and social needs and features of the formation of ethical and legal institutions in the field of bioethics; to identify research trends in the field of implementation of international bioethical norms in national legislation and optimization of government policies. Results and brief conclusions. This study makes it possible to differentiate multidirectional bioethical research into formalized and non-formalizable issues of biomedicine in the context of the effective implementation of innovations from science and technology and the potential for their compliance with legal paradigms. Fundamental research in the field of bioethics concentrates around the study of gaps and conflicts in the regulatory framework, precise definition of basic concepts, establishment of legal responsibility for violation of human rights and freedoms, distribution of powers and responsibilities of state bodies to ensure human rights to safety of life and health. Insufficient detailing of legislation in the field of bioethics and medical law does not meet modern requirements in the relationship between the state, patients and the biomedical community, and minimizes the human rights to a quality level of health guaranteed by the constitution and laws.

In this article, the author analyzes the problems of protecting the rights of consumers of financial services. The author examines the current issues of consumer protection of financial services, as well as ways to counteract such a phenomenon as "misseling". The article examines this concept in detail as one of the types of unfair sales of financial services. Detailed concrete examples of unfair sales practices are described, including the impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on the emergence of new unfair sales practices. The role of the Bank of Russia as a regulator of the financial services market is analyzed. In addition, the article provides examples of legislative initiatives aimed at protecting consumers of financial services from misseling and draws conclusions about the directions of development of activities to counteract misseling and protect the rights of consumers of financial services, as well as identifies key recommendations to consumers regarding the issue of countering misseling and protecting their rights. At the end of the article, the author formulated conclusions about the impact of misseling on the level of public confidence in the banking sector.

The subject of research in the scientific article is the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, regulating the provisions of the contract for the creation of works, much attention was paid to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as well as the judicial practice of the Intellectual Property Rights Court. Research methods are scientific methods of cognition of social phenomena and processes. In particular, general and specific scientific methods of cognition were used as the main methods. Most of the scientific article was written using the comparative legal method of cognition. Within the framework of the general scientific method of cognition, the methods of systemic and complex analysis were used. The scientific article explores the provisions concerning the order agreement, considers the main features, essential conditions, subject and subject composition. All signs and essential conditions are highlighted thanks to the comparative legal analysis of the order agreement and the author's order agreement. The problems of payment of remuneration for the creation of a work under an order agreement are considered. On the basis of the study, the concept of an order agreement was formulated, since the current legislation does not currently contain a definition of the institution in question. The results obtained can be further used to eliminate gaps in the current legislation concerning the institution of an order for the creation of works.

The article examines a comparison of some aspects of the placement, conclusion and management of state contracts in Russian Federation and United States of America. The author arguments that public regulation and the development of specific industries through public procurement is a widespread phenomenon, and takes place not only in Russia but also in abroad, particularly in the United States of America. The paper considers some regulations governing the entire process of procurement for government needs (basically, the federal level of regulatory regulation). Also, the article analyzes the experience to enter into framework contracts in the United States, the positive and negative sides to enter this type of contract. The author briefly examines the types of government contracts adopted to attract executors of government orders. Of particular interest is the role and functions of a contract officer in the United States as a participant of public procurement procedure in comparison with the role of a contract manager in Russian law. The article mainly uses the comparative legal method. The author of the article reveals both the shortcomings of some methods of regulating the processes of placing state orders, and the directions of possible improvement of the legal regulation of these relations in the Russian
Federation.

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the international legal acts concerning cooperation between Russia and South Africa in the field of energy. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is formed by such methods of formal logic as methods of theoretical and legal analysis, synthesis, generalization and analogy, as well as the comparative method of legal study. The scientific novelty of the research is a reflection of the fact that it is the first study in which international legal acts concerning cooperation between Russia and South Africa in the field of energy are summarized, systematized and analyzed. The author has identified trends in the international legal framework for energy cooperation between Russia and South Africa and the energy sectors in which its development is possible. It is found that few international agreements in the field of energy have been concluded between Russia and South Africa. The intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of energy, which establishes the general framework for international cooperation between the states in the field of energy, is of special importance. In the field of the peaceful use of atomic energy there is an intergovernmental treaty on the peaceful use of atomic energy that establishes a list of certain specific areas of cooperation in this field, while there are no certain projects for implementation. Taking into account the problems of energy shortage and the need for foreign investment in South Africa, it is concluded that mutually beneficial international agreements with South Africa on the construction of energy facilities should be celebrated, being accompanied by the provision of a state loan by Russia for the purposes of projects. Such a mechanism would allow Russian companies to expand their presence in the energy sector of South Africa.

The article presents the basic results of scientific research of the features of the time limit (statute of limitations) and the establishment of cases of negligence in the process of occupational health and safety in the implementation of judicial protection against charges and compensation for harm in European tort law when considering cases of non-contractual liability in the nanobiotechnological sphere, which is important in modern conditions of mass production, distribution and use of nanobiomaterials, causing the emergence of new risks to human life and health, objectively requiring the development of new methods to ensure the safe existence of the individual, which are particularly important in modern conditions of uncertainty, caused, inter alia, by the threat of adverse consequences associated with the global spread of coronavirus and similar infections, some of which may have an artificial origin, generating, in turn, tort liability of delinquents (offenders), as well as effective methods of judicial evidence, including judicial protection, determination and compensation of harm (damage) caused by the adverse effects of nanobiomaterials. The subject of the study was the relations that arise between developers, manufacturers and distributors of nanobiomaterials and nanobioproducts on the one hand and a person (individual), as well as on the environment and legal entities, on which these types of materials and products have their own, including adverse effects, on the other, which in turn leads to legal disputes that require resolution, including the determination of the statute of limitations for their consideration, as well as the identification of manifestations of negligence in the production process., directly related to occupational health and safety. Logical, comparative, empirical, analytical, historical-legal, descriptive, and other methods of cognition were used as the main methods of cognition during the research. The scientific novelty of the study was the conclusions according to which, in European tort law, firstly, the risk of exposure (preventable or not) to nanobiotechnology should not be a reason for liability and, secondly, workers in the nanobiotechnology industry are not sufficiently protected simply because the risks are not yet fully identified, and preventive measures to protect health and safety do not have a certain effectiveness and, thus, do not meet the conditions of cost-benefit analysis.

The history of the Principality of Liechtenstein has always been closely linked to the history of Austria and Switzerland, so not surprisingly Liechtenstein's legal system was heavily dependent on Austrian and Swiss law. The private legal order developed in the Principality makes it possible to build freely the legal relations with their surroundings according to the person`s own will, within the framework of good morality. The law of the Principality of Liechtenstein provides flexible conditions for admitting foreign persons to activities on its territory through, in particular, providing a wide choice of organizational and legal forms of doing business, preferential taxation. Ensuring a favorable investment climate in the Principality is facilitated by an efficient banking system, which is known for its tightly guarded banking secrecy. Despite its small size, Liechtenstein is a developed industrial country and one of the largest financial centers. This is facilitated by the competent and consistent reform of the corporate legislation of the state, its political and economic stability, the implementation of a confidentiality policy with the simultaneous establishment of regulation’s transparency, which makes it possible to suppress the use of the jurisdiction in question for money laundering by unscrupulous business entities. Thus, the legislation of the Principality allows a foreign investor, in particular a foreign legal entity, to protect their assets by “transforming” its separate division into a national (Liechtenstein) legal entity.

The article is an intersectoral study, the subject of which is the norms of Russian law, legal doctrine and prosecutor's practice in the field of protection of the rights and legitimate interests of participants in civillaw transactions. The methodological basis of the research is based on the provisions of both the general theory of law, civil law, and the human rights scientific direction. Dialectical, formal-logical, historical, comparative-legal, technical-legal, system-structural, statistical methods with methods of analysis, synthesis and description were used as research methods. The article pays due attention to the legal category "public interest" as a backbone structure that determines the organization of supervisory activities and the degree of prosecutorial participation in the protection of the violated right. In accordance with this construction, the author's classification of subjects of civil-law transactions is proposed due to the amount of prosecutorial powers in relation to each group of participants. Analyzing the use of the human rights potential of the prosecutor's office in civil and procedural legal relations, the authors argue that, by its legal nature, supervisory activity is universal in nature and today it is the most effective means of protecting the rights of participants in civil-law transactions.

The article is devoted to the analysis and subsequent proposal of a possible solution of the problems of the digitalization of the judicial system in the world, which takes special actuality due to the spread of a new coronavirus infection COVID-19 that has captured all continents. Considering the analysis of international justice systems, especially electronic justice, and international legal acts, as well as the doctrinal sources of domestic and international researchers, the question of the need to direct all efforts to the introduction and subsequent improvement of artificial intelligence technologies, which is able to competently perform a number of functions of the courts, and thereby ease the workload of the judiciary through the adoption of "smart decisions", is resolved. Artificial intelligence technologies will be able to effectively unload the judicial apparatus from routine proceedings, which take the most time from the courts. The artificial intelligence system can be used in cases of ordered and simplified proceedings due to the fact that many of these cases do not have an increased level of complexity and are based on a number of irrefutable and admissible evidence that does not come into question. At the same time, in most cases, there are no motivated objections of any party to the dispute in the case materials, which further simplifies the process and the powers of the judges will be limited only to checking the calculation of the amount of claims, which may well be entrusted to the artificial intelligence algorithm.

The nature of the institute of a concession agreement is still not obvious. This aspect is caused by the fact that the concession agreement combines private law and public law principles. For a deeper study of this institution, it is necessary to refer to foreign law. This article deals with the concept of a concession agreement in US law. In the United States, the essence of the concession agreement is subject to the theory of "complexity", i. e. an agreement at the junction of public and private law. The article explored the public and private legal elements of the theory of complexity and how they affect the regulation of the concession agreement in US law. The studied case law, doctrinal sources and historical prerequisites make it possible to establish that the institution of concession is a kind of franchise. US law divides franchise into public and private. Moreover, the institution of public franchise meets all the features of concession. The rules of the US Federal Procurement System discussed in the article define a concession agreement as a government contract for the "procurement" of services from a concessionaire for the needs of the US Government. The concept of a concession agreement as one of the methods of public procurement was considered in the Russian doctrine and is not a feature of only US law. A study of the impact of the concept of public interest on the institution of concession in American and Russian law was also made. The author proposes to consolidate the concept of "public interest" in the domestic legislation on concessions, taking into account the American experience. The article makes a comparative legal analysis of the institution of concession with other similar institutions in US law, which indicates that there is no uniformity in terms of American law, which requires a more detailed study of a specific legal institute in US law. Applied to a concession and concession agreement, the complexity in comparison is caused by the existence of different types of concessions, for example a mining concession. Also, the legislative acts of separate government departments and agencies contain their own qualifications for the concept of a concession and a concession agreement.

Title security for the fulfillment of obligations is one of the most controversial issues in Russian law. In the doctrine, there are different views on the security transfer of property rights. Judicial practice on issues related to the security transfer of property is also extremely controversial. The main positions on this issue were formed by the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, these positions were the subject of the most active discussion in the legal literature. At the same time, the judicial practice of arbitration courts on this issue is not being studied so actively. The author examines the practice of arbitration courts of the Russian Federation in disputes related to the security transfer of shares and stakes in the authorized capital of limited liability companies. Based on the results of the study, the author concludes that the practice of arbitration courts in disputes related to security property is also not uniform, however, the presence of such disputes indicates the demand for this method of securing the fulfillment of obligations.

The article explores a number of debatable aspects of the legal regulation of the institution of the inheritance fund. Based on the analysis of civil law and the provisions of the civil law doctrine, the authors substantiate the need to improve the legislative structure of the inheritance fund in the vector of simplifying the procedure for its creation and expanding the freedom of will of the testator. It is argued that the reception of this legal institution in the domestic civil law system is a positive step in expanding its permissive beginnings, consistent with global trends in the development of inheritance law. It justifies the need to establish a dispositive norm in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, providing for the possibility for the testator to conclude an agreement complementary to the will binding the relevant persons, including on a reimbursable basis, with an future obligation, after the death of the testator, not to refuse to become a member of the fund management body and continue to properly perform their duties, which can be supported by an indication in the contract of measures of their property liability.