Environmental safety of consumer products: legal and regulatory issues

Abstract

Modern problems of ensuring ecological safety of consumer products in the Russian Federation are considered, and also measures for improvement of the mechanism of regulation of quality and ecological safety in the sphere of consumption are offered. The methodological basis of the research is the analytical method, which allows to consider the practice of regulation of the environmental safety of products, the formal legal method, which allows to reveal the systemic connections in legal regulation, regulatory features of legal acts, law enforcement practice in Russia and abroad. The directions of public administration in the field of environmental safety in terms of improving the legislation in the field of environmental requirements for production are analyzed. The criteria for greener products are reviewed, the need to raise awareness among consumers about the product’s properties is identified. Practical problems and directions of further development of legislation on environmental safety of products are determined. The problem in the regulation of quality and safety of products is the presence of a large number of evaluation concepts that carry the initial risk in the regulation of relations between sellers and consumers. The social significance of food, its key role in ensuring human activity causes an increased interest on the part of the state. Product safety management is carried out by the state within the framework of technical regulation. Exceeding the maximum permissible levels of product safety indicators makes it dangerous for consumption. The world food industry uses a system of hazard analysis according to established criteria. Through the system of hazard analysis at critical points, a technology for the safety of the products was created. In a free market, the legislature has significantly reduced the degree of public danger for violations in the field of environmental safety of products. The model of legal regulation of product safety issues is based on mandatory technical regulations as framework for regulatory documents. According to the authors, the legislation should be developed in the direction of regulation of environmental protection from the effects of hazardous products. For environmentally hazardous products, all production processes should be regulated, including product operation, transportation, storage, disposal, i.e. at all stages of the life cycle. In solving this problem, it is important to ensure the optimal combination of state technical regulation with the economic freedom of producers. Regions should independently develop legislative acts relating to the regulation of the quality and safety of products in their territories.