Contemporary Problems of Social Work Современные проблемы социальной работы academic journal

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VOLUME 2, No. 1, 2016
of services have been combined in the definition of services, which is given in GOST R 50646-
94 “Public services. Terms and Definitions” approved by Decree of the Russian State Statistics 
Committee dated February 21, 1994 No. 34): “... the result of direct interaction between the 
performer and the consumer, as well as the performer’s own activities to meet the needs of the 
consumer.” Based on the above definition, services consist of two parts: the result and the 
process [18].
Complications in development of a common approach to the concept of “service” ere 
contributed by the fact that, despite the availability of Chapter 39, “Paid services agreement”, 
in the modern Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the concept of “service” is not enshrined 
in the Code. Moreover, Article 783 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that a 
paid services agreement shall be regulated by the general provisions of labor contract and the 
provisions of consumer work contract if it does not contradict the special rules for paid services, 
as well as the features of a subject of a paid services agreement [1], which also indicates the 
imperfection of legal regulation in the paid services sphere.
The lack of legal regulation by civil law of relations associated with the provision of services 
is compensated by the adoption of a number of regulatory legal acts dealing with various kinds 
of service activities and setting forth the notion of “service” for the respective types of social 
relations. Paragraph 2, Article 779 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation enshrines certain 
types of such relations, for example, contracts for provision of communication services, medical, 
veterinary, auditing, consulting, information services and other [1].
Currently, the legislature gives a definition of a “service” in paragraph 5, Article 38 of the 
Tax Code of the Russian Federation dated July 31, 1998 No. 146-FL: “For tax purposes the 
service shall mean any activity the results of which are not expressed in material terms, and 
are implemented and consumed in the course of this activity” [23]. There are proposals in the 
national legal literature to use the given definition, including in the application of civil law 
[12].
It should be noted that in addition to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation references 
to “service” can be found in other regulatory legal acts. The concept of financial services such 
as banking services, insurance services, services in the securities market, services under the 
lease agreement, as well as services provided by a financial institution and associated with the 
involvement and (or) placement of funds from legal entities and individuals can be found in the 
Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” [3].
As L.S. Kozlova notes, in the Russian Constitution the concept of “services” is defined as a type 
of material activities (Article 8, 74); in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation – as an object 
of civil rights (Articles 128, 129); in the Russian Federation Law “On the Fundamentals of Social 
Services” – as actions to assist the clients of social service. Federal Law dated 06.10.2003 No. 
131-FL “On General Principles of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation” does not 
establish the concept of “municipal services”, however, it contains some provisions for “social 
services” (Articles 14–16) [8].
One of the reasons that influenced the spontaneous elaboration and consolidation of the 
“services” category in various regulatory legal acts is the fact that the service industry is very 
diverse, for example, All-Russia Classifier of Services Rendered to Public contains a variety of 
services, devided into different categories [14; 15].
Within this research it is worth noting that in the national civil law there is a view of services 
both as an object of civil law regulation, and as an object of civil rights. In Article 128 of the 
Civil Code of the Russian Federation the “provision of services” refers to the objects of civil 
rights, which means that rights and obligations may arise in relation to them. As noted by 
L.V. Sannikova, “the legal nature of services as an object of civil rights is to commit actions 
to change the status of immaterial benefit. Immaterial benefits serve as an object which is 
exposed in the activity of the performer in provision of civil services”.

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CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL WORK
In turn, the services as an object of civil and legal regulation are “a certain kind of social 
relations, the economic substance of which is to provide services” [18]. Thus, any service has a 
certain property value, which is expressed in its cost in the market of similar services.
The lack of a single, universally accepted definition of “services” generates a large number 
of interpretations of this concept. O.S. Ioffe interpreted the services agreement as an activity 
of such types that are not or do not have to be embodied in a material, much less a materialized 
result” [4].. D.I. Stepanov considers services to be “certain legitimate operation i.e. a 
number of feasible actions of the performer, or any activity that is the object of obligation, 
having intangible effect, unsustainable material result or materialized result associated with 
other contractual relations, and characterized by the properties of feasibility, inseparability 
from the source, instant consumability without formalization of quality…” [22]. At the same 
time L.B. Sitdikova gives the following definition: “...services means actions (activities) of 
a legal entity or a citizen – service provider, aimed at achieving certain intangible results 
that meet the needs of subjects – service receivers, having independent property value and 
consumed in provision of services” [21]. S.V. Khaludorova has her own vision of the concept 
of “service”, under which the author understands “...a beneficial action of one person, the 
service provider (legal entity or individual), aimed at the satisfaction of nonmaterial needs, 
benefits of another person, the service receiver, and implemented in the process of service 
provision, the result of which has a certain value” [7]. M.N. Maleina considers services to be 
“a specific action, the result of which has no material embodiment and is inseparable from the 
personality of the performer. At the same time a service has a result – satisfaction of property, 
aesthetic, information needs, provision of health and safety, acquisition of skills, experience, 
behavioral patterns...” [11].
Analysis of the above opinions allows us to conclude about what features the concept of 
“service” has. The service is an activity of the performer aimed at achieving a specific goal, 
satisfying the customer’s needs. The results achieved in course of provision of services have no 
material embodiment and are inseparable from the identity of the performer.
However, as was noted by L.V. Sannikova, “...the disclosure of services nature through the 
description of characteristics that distinguish them from the goods (things), which are referred 
to as: intangibility, changeability of quality, impermanence (perishability), the continuity of 
production and consumption, also has not led to adequate reflection of a service...” [17]. This 
problem is associated with the fact that the nature of some services cannot be disclosed by the 
features defined by L.V. Sannikova. These services include, in particular, Internet services.
It is obvious that the life of a modern man is impossible without the use of information 
technologies. The need for data transmission and storage of large amounts of data causes 
the popularity of the worldwide communication network “Internet”. As M.V. Demianets notes, 
“currently most of the relations connected with the implementation of communication relations 
by individuals, citizens and legal entities for the organization of transactions, offers for sale or 
purchase of a product or service, business relations, are based on the use of the Internet and 
means of mobile communication” [2].
The massive use of the opportunities offered by the Internet has made urgent the issue of 
legal regulation of Internet services.
In accordance with the provisions of Part 2 Article 779 of the Civil Code of the Russian 
Federation governing the paid services agreement, the rules governing the paid services 
agreement shall apply to all contracts for provision of services, except as expressly listed in this 
article. Thus, it can be argued that the contract for provision of Internet services is executed by 
the conclusion of a paid services agreement.
The stated point of view is confirmed by the opinion of L.B. Sitdikova, according to which 
the nature of legal relations in the Internet is the relationship between the parties, in which 
the subjects are constituted by the services (internet services), and the object of impact is 

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