International standards of law-making: the concept and classifications

The article is devoted to the study of the concept of international legal standards and the definition of international standards of law-making, the establishment of their characteristic features, and their classification. It is noted that in modern conditions, the transformation of legal systems must comply with international standards, i.e., those value guidelines that are formed under the influence of the international community. International standards of lawmaking are a separate group of international legal standards that ensure the existence of the concept of the “ideal construction” of law, which, despite the existence of different legal systems, includes the achievements of the latter and serves as a benchmark for the development of effective and modern legislation. It is emphasized that international standards of lawmaking create ideological and value foundations, priorities, and general guidelines, given which, further reform and development of means of creating high-quality and effective legislation should take place to fully ensure the fulfillment by the state of its international obligations to ensure and protect human rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests. The author argues that international standards of law-making include the basic international standards in the field of human rights protection, which are enshrined in UN conventions and must be implemented by the participating states, UN and Council of Europe conventions on combating corruption, as well as many fundamental documents of the Venice Commission, which reveal the content of the principles of the rule of law, the practice of the ECHR in interpreting the provisions of the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, etc. It is proposed to classify international standards of law-making according to: the territory (space) of their creation, the level of formal binding force, the form of enshrinement, and their content. It is emphasized that the content of international standards of lawmaking best reveals their specificity and provides their division into: international standards for the implementation of the principle of the rule of law; international standards for the formation of anti-corruption legislation and anti-corruption infrastructure; international standards for the foundations of democratic functioning of government bodies; international standards for European integration and harmonization with EU law.