PROTECTION OF PUBLIC VALUES: EVALUATING STATE REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY FROM CITIZEN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The federal legislation defines a list of regulatory enforcement activities aimed at minimizing risks to legally protected public values (such as life and health, property, privacy, other human rights, plants and animals, natural habitats). Therefore, monitoring studies aiming at collecting public perceptions of the protection of these public values are highly relevant for tracking the reform progress. The goal of this paper is to identify public perceptions of the extent of protection of public values and evaluate regulatory enforcement performance. The subject of the study is regulatory enforcement activity aimed at reducing risks to the public values. The primary method of the study is a representative public survey, the findings of which are compared to earlier surveys carried out in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. The results presented in the paper include an analysis of the dynamics in public perception of the effectiveness and efficiency of the state regulatory enforcement activities. The paper concludes that while there are some positive trends in improving public perceptions of the safety of public values, the overall level of these perceptions is unsatisfactory. Less than a half of all the survey participants have positive perceptions on any of the risks considered. The frequency of risk events remains high: half of the respondents faced at least one risk in the 2 years preceding the survey. Both time and financial costs borne by citizens applying for protection to the state regulatory and enforcement authorities have not changed significantly. This shows that the efficiency of state regulatory enforcement authorities has not improved in the public view. The novelty of the study is related to collecting and analyzing empirical data to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of state regulatory enforcement bodies, as perceived by the public. The paper recommends streamlining the procedures for handling citizen complaints to state regulatory enforcement bodies and improving public access to information on the ways of protecting public values from the risks.

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