Volunteer activity as one of the forms of charity activity in Ukraine

The article examines the legal provision of volunteering in Ukraine. The problem of defining the forms of charitable activity is being studied, because consensus among scientists has not yet been reached regarding their scope. It is established that the Law of Ukraine «On Charitable Activities and Charitable Organizations» dated 07/05/2012 No. 5073-VI does not establish the forms of charitable activity, although the term «form of charitable activity» appears in other legislative acts. It is proven that volunteer activity is precisely the form of the latter. However, given the relatively recent adoption of a special law in this area – the Law of Ukraine «On Volunteering» dated April 19, 2011 No. 3236-VI, it is still too early to assert the perfection of the legal framework. In addition, the legal provision of volunteering in special literature is insufficiently developed: individual problems are covered fragmentarily, there is no unity among scientists regarding the legal nature of this phenomenon. Based on the analysis of the legislative definition of the concept of volunteering and the study of the terms «non-profitability», «gratuitousness» and «selflessness», we propose to make changes to the definition enshrined in Art. 1 of the Law of Ukraine «On Volunteering», replacing «non-profit activity» with «selfless» in the definition of volunteer activity and «free» in the definition of volunteer assistance with «selfless». The experience of some foreign countries was also studied. The Law of the Republic of Moldova «On Volunteering» dated June 18, 2010 No. 121 and the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On Volunteering» dated December 30, 2016 No. 42-VI ZRK were analyzed. Conclusions were made about the expediency for Ukraine to borrow some of the legislative developments. The work also concludes about the correlation between the concepts of charity and volunteer activity, namely that it is incorrect to equate them, because they are a whole and a part. It is also proposed, for clarity and to avoid unnecessary discussions, to supplement the Law of Ukraine «On Charitable Activities and Charitable Organizations» with a separate article with a list of forms of charitable activity, among which to enshrine volunteer activity.