Legal regime of substances: wastes, by-product, secondary raw materials, secondary resources

The subject of the research is the legal regime of substances in environmental law, including wastes, by-products, secondary raw materials, and secondary resources. The study analyzes the problems of their legal regulation that hinder the involvement of these substances in economic circulation in the context of permissive and regulatory types of legal regulation. The norms of current legislation and doctrinal approaches are examined, allowing for the identification of commonalities and differences in the legal regulation of substances as additional sources of raw materials, as well as the relationship between public law and private law means used in determining the legal regime of substances. A unifying factor is the necessity to form an independent legal regime for substances as a generic concept related to wastes, by-products, secondary resources, and secondary raw materials (as additional sources of raw materials). The study employs methods of comparative legal analysis, a systemic approach, and legal hermeneutics. The methodological foundation consists of theoretical developments in the field of environmental law and legal theory, including concepts of legal regimes and types of legal regulation (permissive and regulatory). Contradictions between imperative and dispositive approaches to the regulation of substances have been identified. Authorial approaches to understanding the legal regimes of substances have been proposed. The necessity of normative consolidation of the concept of "by-product" has been substantiated, along with criteria for its differentiation from production and consumption waste. It has been established that the current legal regime of waste is restrictive in nature, based on a permissive type of regulation, which complicates their use. At the same time, the legal regime of by-products, despite its potentially permissive nature, lacks clear normative regulation. The author proposes amendments to the normative regulation aimed at eliminating gaps and stimulating the involvement of production and consumption waste into economic circulation.

legal regime, wastes, by-product, secondary resources, secondary raw materials, permissive type of regulation, general permissive procedure, economic turnover of substances, legal qualification of substances, environmental law