Business Ombudsman as an Institution for Improving Compliance with the Rule of Law Principles

Abstract

The relevance of the chosen subject is conditioned upon the fact that law enforcement officers, upon exercising their powers, abuse the rights and obligations granted to them, violating the legal rights of business representatives. In other words, this refers to the arbitrariness of law enforcement agencies regarding business entities, which is incompatible with the rule of law principles. The purpose of this study is to summarise the current state of activity of the institution of business ombudsman and areas for its improvement, which will contribute to improving compliance with the rule of law principles. The system-structural method, systemic and dialectical methods, the method of critical analysis, analytical, formal-legal methods, as well as the method of documentary analysis and the Aristotelian method allowed achieving this purpose. The paper addresses the issue of violation of the rights of business representatives by law enforcement officers, which poses a threat to the rule of law principles. The authors identified the reasons for the introduction of rule of law. Conventional tools for protecting businesses from the arbitrariness of law enforcement agencies are highlighted. The study also noted the role of the Business Ombudsman Council as an effective tool in ensuring and implementing the rule of law regarding the business environment representatives. Attention is focused on the prospects for the development of ombudsmen who contribute to the protection of entrepreneurs' rights. It is concluded that it is necessary to expand the powers of the business ombudsman due to the recognition of the latter as a participant in criminal proceedings. The practical value of this study is that the proposals set out herein are aimed at improving the activities of the institution of business ombudsman in Ukraine, which would contribute to improving compliance with the rule of law principles

Keywords

• human rights
• business representatives
• Business Ombudsman Council
• arbitrariness of law enforcement agencies