Topical issues of the creation and development of special economic zones

Introduction: the authors state that creation of areas with special economic status is actually an experiment aimed at achieving a socio-economic impact. On June 9, 2016, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin gave instructions to the Government of the Russian Federation to suspend the creation of new special economic zones and to cease the work of a number of inefficient areas. By October 2016 the Ministry of Economic Development is to prepare a report on special economic zones functioning and proposals on the elimination of inefficient SEZ. Owing to the current economic and financial situation in Russia, it is planned to reduce the debt burden of the federal and regional budgets through the elimination of such zones in regions. Purpose: to examine the process of the creation and functioning of special economic zones in Russia and abroad. The authors focus on socio-economic and political processes taking place in the economic field and related to the formation and liquidation of special economic zones in Russia. Methods: analysis of socio-economic and political processes, general scientific methods of cognition, logical and historical methods of research are used. Results: a comprehensive study has led to the conclusion that relations in the sphere of legal regulation of areas with special economic status cannot be regarded as private-legal relations. These are only public-legal relations with a temporary change in the rules of economic activity. They are not specific public legal relations, as within the given experiment it is possible to change general rules of customs and currency regulations. The authors have also researched foreign laws and analyzed functioning of special economic zones in Russia and abroad. Conclusions: on the basis of the practice of establishment and operation of foreign special economic zones, the authors emphasize that the most appropriate instrument for the implementation offoreign economic experiments is the institution of special economic zones. Such experiments help to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of changes in foreign economic policy through the creation of legal means of artificial changes in the conditions for foreign economic activity.