Scientific-methodological approaches to designing risk-oriented model of control and surveillance activities in the sphere of consumer rights protection

Abstract

We present scientific-methodological approaches to defining risk categories of economic entities which are subject to surveillance in the sphere of consumer rights protection. Risk is suggested to be assessed as a product of violations frequency comprising violations of separate provisions of the law on consumer rights protection detected in the course of scheduled and unscheduled inspections; a number of claims per one detected violation which were satisfied by courts in favor of consumers; each separate case of harm accepted by court in money terms (as a sum of physical and moral damage to health and damage to property); and coefficient of a potential impact scope which differentiates risks for economic entities belonging to micro-, small, medium-sized and large business. Our information sources are official statistic data obtained due to realization of state control in the sphere of consumer rights protection and court practice collected in all the RF regions over 2012–2016. It is shown that a share of economic entities with extremely high risk potential which can cause total material damage to consumers in sums greater than 10 million rubles per year amounts to about 0.15 % of the total number of economic entities (both juridical persons and private entrepreneurs); economic entities with high risk potential account for about 2 %. Such groups are made of companies involved in financial markets, share construction services, insurance and tourism. About 23 % of juridical persons and private entrepreneurs can be classified as having low risk potential and they can be excluded from scheduled inspections. Economic entities structure in general corresponds to world practices. It is shown that risk-oriented surveillance model development requires improvements in keeping registers of juridical persons and private entrepreneurs as such registers should contain comprehensive information; it is necessary for correct risk category (or hazard category) determination. It is also vital to work out a regulation on registering cases of moral and property damage to citizens caused by violations of obligatory requirements in the sphere of consumer rights protection. Other ways of protecting consumer rights are becoming especially important; here we first of all mean preventive and procedural ones. Such ways are to be developed and implemented especially widely for spheres of activities which are "risky"

Keywords

• consumer rights protection
• goods
• services
• risk-oriented surveillance
• hazard category