LICENSING OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AS A SPECIAL SUBJECT OF ECONOMIC AND LEGAL REGULATION

Abstract

The article elucidates the substance of licensing
as a distinctive object of economic-law regulation in
Ukraine. It demonstrates that the licensing of
economic activity constitutes an integral component of
the economic-law framework: in both form and
content it is shaped by the overarching objectives,
functions, and methods through which economic
processes and entrepreneurial activity are governed.
By means of licensing, the state secures a stable
economic order that reconciles freedom of enterprise
with economic security, the rule of law, and the predictability of market behaviour. The licensing regime enables legitimate state influence over business entities: it establishes a clear legal perimeter within which specified activities (those deemed to
warrant additional scrutiny) may be performed; it
facilitates continuous monitoring to ensure that
licensed operations meet prescribed standards of
quality, reliability, and safety; and it upholds socially
significant benchmarks by permitting market
participation only to entities that satisfy statutory
criteria. The significance of licensing is therefore
objectified in its capacity to guarantee that
entrepreneurial freedom is realised within an orderly,
foreseeable, and socially oriented legal environment –
an outcome wholly consistent with the normative aim
of economic law, namely the creation of a stable and
equitable economic order. This importance is
reinforced by the functions the institution performs: it
regulates and stabilises market relations, harmonises
the interests of the state and private actors, safeguards
rights, and exercises a preventive influence against
malpractice. Notably, the legal regulation of business
licensing relies upon the dual methodological toolkit
of economic law, combining imperative norms with
dispositive mechanisms to balance state oversight and
entrepreneurial autonomy. The article concludes that
the legislative provisions governing licensing occupy
a pivotal position within the corpus of Ukraine’s
economic legislation, underpinning both the
coherence of the legal system and the resilience of the national economy.

Keywords: economic order, economic security, economic-law influence, fair competition, legal regulation, licensing of business activities, scope of economic law.