Analysis of legal regulation and law enforcement in the field of natural resource licensing

This article is dedicated to the analysis of the legal regulation of the provision of natural resources for use in the Russian Federation and related issues concerning the registration of information in state registers, as well as some other related areas. The purpose of the study is to examine changes in natural resource legislation, which have manifested in the transition from a licensing approach to civil law principles in resource use and their reflection in related legislation and law enforcement. The tasks of the research are: to analyze changes in the legal regulation of licensing the use of subsoil resources, water bodies, wildlife, and forest resources; to identify problems arising in law enforcement practice in connection with changes in natural resource legislation and related legislation, particularly in tax legislation and in the management of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRUL) and the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs (EGRIP). The methodological framework of the research consists of general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, a formal-legal method, and a comparative-legal method. Publicly available data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and a comparative analysis of this data with information from the State Register of Subsoil Areas provided for use and licenses for subsoil use were analyzed for the study. As a result of the research, changes in the legal regulation of the use of various types of natural resources over recent decades were identified, specifically the replacement of licenses with contracts and permits regarding water bodies, wildlife, and forest resources. These changes also influenced the adoption of corresponding amendments to the legislation on licensing certain types of activities and several other laws. The mentioned changes affected problems in law enforcement related to discrepancies in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation concerning water tax and errors in the input of license information by government bodies in the unified state register of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs; it was established that the data in EGRUL and EGRIP do not correspond to valid licenses and current regulatory practices. A conclusion was drawn regarding the existence of conflicts and inconsistencies in law enforcement in the field of natural resource licensing that require resolution.