THE LEGAL BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION SYSTEM IN UKRAINE

Introduction. The formation of the national system for the protection of critical infrastructure in Ukraine has been going on for a number of years and is progressing with certain pauses and obstacles. The corresponding normative base is gradually accumulating, which needs to be generalized and systematized in order to identify gaps, inconsistencies and other problems that need to be solved. The above actualizes the need for a scientific and theoretical analysis of legal regulation in this extremely important area. Purpose. The purpose of the study is to clarify the state of formation of the legal basis for the functioning of the national system of critical infrastructure protection in Ukraine, to identify shortcomings and gaps. Results. During the full-scale war, the process of building a national system for the protection of critical infrastructure in Ukraine significantly accelerated. The basic legislative act for this area of legal relations — the Law of Ukraine «On Critical Infrastructure» — has been put into effect. This system was at last institutionalized. The mechanism for forming the composition of critical infrastructure, which is the starting point for the proper organization of its protection, has been normatively determined and put into operation. At the same time, certain provisions of the Law of Ukraine «On Critical Infrastructure» require correction and implementation. The issue of the authorized body in the field of critical infrastructure protection was resolved by the legislator only on a temporary basis, and its final settlement was postponed until the post-war period. Also, the transition to the full functioning of the registry of critical infrastructure objects is associated with the termination of martial law. As a result of the somewhat inconsistent process of formation of national legislation on critical infrastructure and its protection in Ukraine, certain inconsistencies arose and persist with the previously formed normative array in relevant areas of legal regulation, in particular, in the field of cyber security. Moreover, some of the problematic issues concern not only the purely formal inconsistency of the terminology, which also undoubtedly needs attention, but also generally methodological flaws in the application of the concept of «critical infrastructure» and its derivatives in the domestic legal field. In general, the issues related to domestic critical infrastructure and its protection will require a further appropriate rethinking, taking into account the lessons of wartime and the real gradation of the importance of certain objects and sectors, which has been clarified in practice. Discussion. Further research can be aimed at researching the optimization of the national critical infrastructure protection system in the context of achieving its maximum compatibility and suitability for effective interaction with the relevant European organizational and legal mechanisms.