The Meaning and Legal Nature of State Guidelines
State guidelines have now become a very numerous and varied in nature type of regulations. Executive authorities, in the exercise of functions entrusted to them, in addition to imperative legal acts, widely practice: issuing of legal acts; calling to action; giving advice; measures of encouragement, incentive and support measures; suggestions on how to solve problems; providing advice, information concerning safe behavior in specific conditions, etc., i. e. containing recommendations. It has been ambiguous for a long time how recommendations in the regulatory framework have been evaluated from legal scientific point of view. In this context state guidelines retain their status as a topical scientific and practical legal issue. The article presents a brief analysis of recommendation acts and an evaluation of their legal nature in context of domestic and foreign legal literature; examines the functional role of state guidelines in light of trends of soft-law development, which compliance is not ensured by measures of state enforcement; reveals the content and functional value of state guidelines in context of COVID-19 pandemic; identifies the role of state guidelines in context of interaction between national and international law and their importance in implementation of international treaties of the Russian Federation and resolutions of international organizations that are binding on the Russian Federation, as well as in the implementation of recommendation acts of international organizations. In conclusion the author determines that state guidelines meet modern requirements of social life democratization and contribute to the formation of a new legal culture in context of the legal regulation of social relations and behavior of every citizen and society as a whole. They represent changes in the system of administrative and legal regulation, in development of administrative and legal forms, in the administrative and legal culture, and in the efficiency and quality of public administration.