The role of norm-referenced regulation and indirect methods in optimizing law and reducing regulatory risks

The subject of the study is public relations in dynamically developing areas, where direct methods of public administration and traditional legal tools show their ineffectiveness. The purpose of the article is to develop an approach to the applicability of indirect methods in administrative and legal regulation in the context of the transition to Industry 4.0. The research was carried out on the basis of an interdisciplinary approach using method of system analysis and the dogmatic method. As a result of the study, it was concluded that increased government influence on the economy led to the formation of a process approach to administrative and legal regulation. However, the use of this approach assumes that identifying a defect is a norm that cannot, as a general rule, entail negative consequences for an economic entity. This feature is dissonant with the approach to legal regulation, and in a process sense it contains the less social value and carries the more threats, risks and costs, the more detailed it is. Overcoming the negative consequences of direct regulation is possible by using indirect methods of public administration, in which the solidarity of non-state actors with state goals is achieved through economic interest. Non-state regulation not only includes rule-making and control, but also requires providing incentives. Norm-referenced regulation is used in semi-formalized areas in which the state does not have awareness and effective tools for influence, but can use an incentive mechanism in areas of interest to the private sector. In such cases, the emphasis shifts from state to non-state regulation. In the context of the transition to Industry 4.0, the state will transfer regulatory functions to the private sector for self-regulation and local regulation with indirect influence from the state.