The competence of the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Control over the Drugs

Abstract

The concept and structure of the competence as a component of the legal status of the public authority have been studied. The notion of the competence of the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Control over the Drugs (SSUMCD) has been formulated; the author has highlighted its components: authorities (the rights and duties of the service) and jurisdiction (the relevant areas of public relations and territorial boundaries covered by these authorities).

The competence of the SSUMCD has been suggested to understand as a set of the authorities established by regulations (the rights and duties) that have spatial boundaries and are implemented in the areas of control over the quality and safety of medicines, medical equipment and medical devices, circulation of drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors, combating their illicit trafficking.

The competence as a combination of the authorities and objects of jurisdiction is driven by the objectives, tasks and functions. It has been emphasized that the tasks of the SSUMCD are certain steps that it must implement to achieve the objective of its creation. Functions of the SSUMCD are the directions of its activity, but not the authorities. The authorities – are certain powers that are assigned to the service within the tasks and implementation of the directions of its activity.

The author has argued that we can distinguish general competence (for the whole system of the service), functional (e.g., central office departments) and territorial (territorial divisions of the service) within the structure of the competence of the SSUMCD. The author has realized the distribution of the competence with other elements of the legal status of a public authority – the objectives, tasks, forms and methods of the activity.