Leasing Services as a Type of Investment Activity: Russian Experience of Legal Regulation

Abstract

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses need to attract investment to operate effectively. The purpose of the study is to characterise the Russian experience of legal regulation of leasing services. The study's methodological basis is a comparative legal approach, which allows us to study the experience of legal regulation of leasing from the point of view of national legal traditions. The primary study results are to determine the essence of the financial lease (leasing), to clarify the features of the UNIDROIT Convention's use in Russia. In the current Russian legislation, the essence of the financial lease (leasing) reflects the contradiction between the form (lease) and the content (lending with elements of doing someone else's business). Current legal regulations refer to leasing as a type of lease. Law enforcement practice considers leasing as a form of lending, in which the lender invests money in the thing specified by the borrower (acquires it) and transfers it to the borrower on the terms of periodic payments (transfer of money hidden in the item). Legal certainty of the concepts of "financial lease", "financial leasing" ensures the development of models of legal regulation of leasing services, reduces the risks of parties to financial lease agreements and financial leasing. The peculiarities of using UNIDROIT Convention in Russia are due to different terminology and are related to international leasing relations.