SYSTEMATIZATION OF THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK OF ENSURING THE WATER TRANSPORT COMPETITIVENESS IN UKRAINE

Topicality. Business entities in the field of water transport can gain competitive advantages and ensure their competitiveness through the introduction of innovations into the process of providing transport services, reducing the cost of transport services and economies of scale, by strengthening barriers to market entry and exit, by the state regulation (including environmental) of the provision of services in the field of water transport. Legal regulation in this area and its consequences have a significant impact on the competitiveness of economic entities in the field of water transport, especially on the issues of setting tariffs, prices for services, and relations with suppliers and consumers of transport services.Aim and tasks. The purpose of the work is to analyze the regulations that significantly affect the competitiveness of water transport in Ukraine and identify, on its basis, the main problems in this area. Following the set purpose, we identify the following tasks: 1) to analyze the regulatory framework for ensuring the competitiveness of water transport in Ukraine; 2) to systematize the regulations that significantly affect the competitiveness of water transport in Ukraine; 3) to identify the main problems of the regulatory framework to ensure the competitiveness of water transport in Ukraine.Research results. The article analyzes the regulatory framework for ensuring the competitiveness of water transport in Ukraine. The regulations that significantly affect the competitiveness of water transport in Ukraine include The Constitution of Ukraine; The Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine; The Water Code of Ukraine; The Customs Code of Ukraine; The Tax Code of Ukraine; The Criminal Code of Ukraine; The Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses; The Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Economic Competition”; The Law of Ukraine “On Transport”; The Law of Ukraine “On Ukrainian Sea Ports”; The Law of Ukraine “On Transportation of Dangerous Cargos”; The Law of Ukraine “On Transit of Cargos”; The Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Protection”; The Law of Ukraine “On Inland Water Transport”; The national transport strategy of Ukraine for the period till 2030, and The strategy of Ukrainian inland water transport development for the period till 2031. The analysis results allowed us to systematize the regulations that significantly affect the competitiveness of water transport in Ukraine by such criteria as the type of document, the date of adoption, the date of the latest version, and the scope of the document. This provided an opportunity to identify the main problems of the regulatory framework to ensure the competitiveness of water transport in Ukraine.Conclusion. The competitiveness of water transport businesses is not their permanent feature. It determines the ability to lead a successful competition, to successfully counter the main competitors in a certain period of time. In the case of changes in external and internal factors of the business environment in the water transport field, their comparative competitive advantages over other players in the market of transport services will also change. Because of this, we can argue that the competitiveness of economic entities in the field of water transport is a relative concept, as it can be determined only based on comparing the individual characteristics of the enterprise with the parameters of other similar entities. The results suggest that one of the main problems in this area is the exemption from certain taxes, fees, and mandatory payments, the right to which is granted only to certain entities. The consequences that usually result from such regulation can potentially lead to a fair competition rules violation.