On the Checklists of Rostechnadzor

The history and the current state of the legal regulation of the development, approval and application of the checklists by the federal state control (supervision) bodies are considered on the example of Rostechnadzor checklists. It is shown that in some cases the checklists are useless when conducting control (supervision) activities. The checklists were introduced into the legislation on the state control (supervision) and municipal control relatively recently, but the legal norms associated with them were already changed. During these changes, the field of the checklists application was expanded, and the questions included in them were potentially ceased to be the only questions that need to be answered when the officials of the federal state control (supervision) bodies carry out control (supervisory) activities, including on-site inspections. At the same time some uncertainty remained in the legislation related to the checklists. The following conclusions are made. 1. Legitimate checklists approved by Rostechnadzor and posted on its official website are not currently available and cannot be used during on-site inspections. 2. Forms of the checklists approved by the Orders of Rostechnadzor and posted on its official website should not be used during on-site inspections, since this is not provided for by the legislation, but can be used for self-examination. 3. The ability to not limit the check to the assessment of compliance with the requirements, for which there are questions in the form of a checklist, significantly reduces the importance of the checklists as a tool for formalizing and optimizing checks. 4. From the Federal Law of July 31, 2020, № 248-FZ «On State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control in the Russian Federation», it is advisable to exclude the provisions on the approval of checklists by the state control (supervision) bodies, and their placement on the official websites of these bodies.