Social Certificate for State (Municipal) Services in the Social Spheres: To the Question of the Legal Nature

One of the actual directions of the modern legislation development in Russia remains legal provision of social sphere transition from state to private sector of economy. Along with the new legal phenomenon – social entrepreneurship – a number of other legal categories requiring theoretical understanding have appeared. This article analyzes the legal nature of the social certificate for public municipal services in the social sphere. According to the law, the social certificate is a registered document certifying the right of the consumer of services or his legal representative to choose a provider of social services in a certain volume and on certain conditions, as well as in the cases established by regulatory legal acts of a certain quality and the right of the provider of services to receive from the appropriate budget of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation funds for financial support (compensation) of costs associated with the provision of the relevant state (municipal) service. Due to the fact that the process of providing social services is regulated by both social and civil legislation, the study of the legal nature of the certificate for rendering services in the social sphere is carried out through the analysis of similar legal structures characteristic of both public (housing certificate, certificate for the right to receive maternity capital) and private law (securities, gift certificate). The author substantiates the conclusion that the certificate for the provision of state (municipal) services in the social sphere can be characterized as an obligation of option type with a number of features determined by the specifics of services that constitute the subject of this contract.