The nature and degree of public danger of crimes encroaching on competition in the field of economic activity

The purpose of the presented scientific article is to study the nature and degree of social danger of encroachments on public relations, which are developing due to the economic competition. In this regard, the authors refer to the materials of law enforcement practice, as well as data from judicial statistics. In addition, the analysis of the legislator's approaches to identifying the criminalizing signs of restricting competition has been carried out. The authors focus on such criminalizing signs as: restriction of competition, causing major damage to citizens, organizations or the state, or generating income on a large scale; committing the act repeatedly, etc. It is noted that the social danger of the crimes studied in the article is not limited to the deformation of social relations that develop due to the economic competition. According to the authors, when committing crimes that infringe on competition in the field of economic activity, the interests of consumers are also affected. At the same time, it is noted that the interests of consumers must be recognized not as optional, but as an additional direct object of crimes that encroach on competition in the field of economic activity. Based on the study, it was concluded that the number of registered crimes that infringe on competition in the field of economic activity, as well as the number of persons convicted for their commission clearly do not correspond to the current state of public relations in this area. This is evidence of the high latency of crimes that infringe on competition in the field of economic activity, as well as shortcomings in the legislation on criminal liability for them.

social danger, criminal liability, crime-generating feature, competition, economic activity