Sanitary Legislation

SANITARY LEGISLATION. S. 3. USSR encompasses the aggregate of norms and regulations established by central and local authorities within their competence and directed toward ensuring the best possible hygienic and sanitary indicators at the given stage of socialist construction (see Hygiene, Sanitation) and toward reconstructing daily life on socialist principles. S. z. (sanitary legislation) of the pre-October Revolution period was mainly reduced to establishing police sanitary supervision, primarily for the purpose of preventing the spread of epidemics. In this case, the majority of legislative norms had a random, half-hearted character, which was conditioned by the lack of material basis for their implementation, since both the government and local sanitary administration spent negligible sums on healthcare; besides, the entire policy of the government excluded the possibility of broad and effective health measures. Even compulsory vaccination was established by law of 21/VI 1914 only partially and only for certain population groups (officials, students, factory workers, prisoners, etc.), constituting on average 15-20% of the entire population of Russia, while the remaining 80-85% (almost all peasantry) were not subject to this law. The replacing act of S. z. was the so-called Charter of Medical Police, found in volume XIII of the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. The Charter was divided into 5 sections: I--general provisions; II-on general measures for the protection of public health; III-on special measures for the protection of public health from epidemic diseases; IV - on institutions and measures for the prevention and cessation of epidemic diseases and on quarantine guards; V-on veterinary-police measures. In the first section, the rights of individual institutions in the field of S. z. were regulated, including local sanitary administration bodies, on which was imposed "the development within their area of guiding instructions for the application of provisions concerning sanitary measures". Basically, the establishment of duties in sanitation and improvement was carried out everywhere mainly only in the form of mandatory resolutions of zemstvo (local government) and urban bodies; these resolutions contained a number of sanitary requirements mandatory for each resident individually, and measures of penalties for non-compliance with these requirements. In general, S. z. of pre-revolutionary Russia is quite vividly characterized in the well-known work by Dr. N. G. Freyberg "Medical-Sanitary Legislation in Russia" (several editions, the latest- M., 1913), where the author points out that the main essence of S. z. in Russia "lies in the duty of the inhabitant to comply with certain sanitary requirements and in the supervision of the same inhabitant to ensure he does not evade compliance with these requirements". There are no specific indications in the Charter of Medical Police of the duty of government or public bodies to improve sanitary improvement by general measures. Indeed, a number of government and public institutions are charged with the duty to care for sanitary improvement, but upon closer examination, this duty is actually more or less precisely expressed as a right and at the same time as a right for which the law does not provide sufficiently firm support. S. z. was more developed only in the part concerning measures against the importation of epidemic diseases across borders. Detailed measures in this area were provided for in special rules issued in development of Art. 854 of the Medical Charter. In this regard, it is necessary to mention the publication in 1897 of a law on the establishment of a special Anti-Plague Central Commission, whose functions included issues of combating plague, cholera, and later also epidemic typhus; in development of this law, so-called sanitary-executive commissions were also created locally (see Sanitary Organization). The law intended to give local administration, with the help of these bodies, extraordinary powers in case of the emergence and development of the mentioned epidemics (declaration of an area as plague-infested, cholera-infested, etc.). It did not provide any norms or specific instructions on the very methods and ways of combating infectious diseases and did not affect in any way the effectiveness of the organization of this matter in the country. Later, by a resolution of the council of ministers of 16/III 1912 g., an interdepartmental commission was formed to review medical-sanitary legislation. Professor G. Reijn was appointed chairman of the commission. At the end of 1916, the commission developed and published a draft Charter of Public Health, which included the sanitary charter as a component part. However, this Charter did not have time, due to war and revolution, to go through legislative instances and become law. The Provisional Government in 1917 also did not undertake any radical reforms in the field of S. z. The October Revolution of 1917 consigned to the archives of history all existing pre-revolutionary S. z., as well as the mentioned draft health charter of the Reijn commission. Stages of development of Soviet S. z. Among the broad sanitary measures planned to be carried out according to the program of the VKP(b), "creation of sanitary legislation" is also listed [item "g" § 1 Art. 25 of the VKP(b) program]. Therefore, when by decree of 1/VII 1918 g. a central body (NKZdr.) was organized in the RSFSR dealing with healthcare in general, its functions also included the development and submission to the government for approval of bills on sanitary matters. The very first years of Soviet power were marked by a series of important decrees in the field of S. z. Resolutions of the SNK (Council of People's Commissars) of 16/VI 1919 g. on sanitary protection of housing, of 29/IV 1920 g. and of 1.6/IX 1921 g. on protection of green plantings, decree of 21/III 1921 g. "On measures for improving water supply, sewerage and sanitation in the Republic", approved by the SNK provisions "On the protection of the health of adolescents and children" (law of 15/IX 1921 g.) and "On the social inspection of children" (law of 26/IX 1921 g.), also aimed at improving sanitary conditions for children,-all these are separate acts of S. z., signifying the transition of Soviet power to the offensive for the elimination of sanitary disimprovement and general improvement of sanitary conditions. These laws already contain not prohibitive norms of "police character" for individual citizens, which constituted a characteristic feature of pre-revolutionary S. z., but norms of positive order, the implementation of which should create certain prerequisites for concrete improvement of the sanitary condition of the country. Resolution of the SNK of the RSFSR of 15/IX 1922 g. "On sanitary organs of the republic" for the first time provided a general legislative basis for the universal and uniform development of sanitary organization and sanitary supervision in the country and gave the much-needed, previously absent legislative form to the significantly grown and by that time already strengthened Soviet sanitary organization. With the end of the civil war and with the country's transition to peaceful socialist construction, with the consolidation of the economic basis of the country, the possibility of further development of S. z. by establishing sanitary norms requiring large expenditures and the availability of significant material resources opened up. Such norms are already contained in the resolutions of the SNK of 18/X 1923 g. "On the carrying out of hydraulic engineering works", of 11/IX 1924 g. "On compulsory vaccination", of 12/V 1924 g. "On measures to combat malaria", of 21/XII 1926 g. "On measures to combat rabies in animals", of 6/VII 1928 g. "On the establishment of a sanitary protection zone of water sources" and etc. The deepening of the successes of socialist construction in the USSR, the giant scale of industrialization, collectivization of agriculture, industrial, housing and cultural construction, the improvement in the well-being of the working masses then posed other new problems before S. z. and called forth new norms of law determining the further offensive movement of Soviet healthcare in accordance with other areas of socialist construction.-Resolution of the June (1931) plenum of the CC VKP(b) "on urban economy", on the basis of which directives two most important legislative acts of the same name appeared: a) SNK of the RSFSR of 10/VIII 1931 g. and b) SNK of the USSR of 9/IX 1931 g. "On measures to improve the sanitary condition of worker districts, worker dormitories and public catering institutions", which laid the foundation for the organization of sanitary inspection within the NKZdr. system, resolution of the SNK of the RSFSR of 14/V 1932 g. "On improving the sanitary condition of cities and new construction" and the preceding resolutions of the SNK of the RSFSR: a) of 7/VII 1929 g. "On the sanitary condition of the RSFSR", b) of 20/V 1930 g. "On the sanitary minimum" (see Sanitary Minimum), c) of 19/VIII 1930 g. "On the fight against epidemics" and d) of 6/VI 1931 g. "On norms of sanitary organs" (see Sanitary Organization)-all these are documents of enormous importance, each of which is a certain milestone in the development of S. z. in the country, documents containing legislative norms of the period of socialist reconstruction, aimed at "linking the tasks and work of healthcare with the main tasks and urgent needs of socialist construction" (M. F. Vladimirsky).

The basic provisions of sanitary legislation during the period of socialist reconstruction have been formulated at the present time in the draft Sanitary Code, compiled by a special commission by order of the Collegium of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR from June 21, 1931, and published at the end of 1932 as a separate book. In this draft, an attempt has been made at a general systematization of the sanitary legislation of the RSFSR and its adaptation to the interests of socialist reconstruction of the economy and way of life. The draft contains 631 articles and is divided into 12 chapters: 1) general part; 2) sanitary conditions for the construction of populated areas; 3) sanitary requirements for the improvement of populated areas; 4) sanitary requirements for serving the population; 5) food sanitation; 6) industrial sanitation; 7) prevention and control of epidemic and other mass diseases; 8) sanitary protection of the borders of the USSR; 9) sanitary protection on internal routes of communication; 10) sanitary protection of special groups of the population; 11) protection of the health of children and adolescents; 12) physical culture; 13) resort sanitation and 14) punitive sanctions. Basically, Soviet sanitary legislation during the period of socialist reconstruction aims to promote socialist construction and to provide a legal foundation for the activities of sanitary organizations (see), which, by carrying out sanitary supervision (see), must ensure 'the implementation of measures to improve the working and living conditions of the working population, to prevent and eliminate sanitary disorders in cities, workers' districts and workers' settlements, state farms, collective farms and other populated areas and to improve their communal improvement, to improve workers' housing and public buildings, public catering institutions, etc., as well as the organization of the fight against infectious, mass and occupational diseases'. The competence of individual government bodies in the field of sanitary legislation. According to paragraph 't' of Article 1 of the Fundamental Law (constitution) of the USSR, the establishment of general measures in the field of public health protection is within the competence of the supreme bodies of the USSR. The clarification of the concept of 'general measures' is not found in any legislative act. In practice, the government of the USSR has used the aforementioned right only in the area of issuing several laws, for example, the law of August 23, 1931 'On the sanitary protection of borders' (see below) or the law of September 9, 1931 'On measures to improve the sanitary condition of workers' districts, workers' dormitories and public catering institutions'; by the latter law, the governments of the union republics were instructed to create an inspection for sanitary supervision (see Sanitary Inspection) within their republican health systems. The same is stated in the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of December 23, 1933 'on the state sanitary inspection'. Basically, sanitary legislation is currently implemented throughout the USSR by the governments of union and autonomous republics, departments, and local executive committees and city councils; the latter in the form of local mandatory resolutions. In the RSFSR, the procedure for issuing the latter is regulated by the resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of March 30, 1931 (Collection of Laws 1931, No. 17, art. 186). Local executive committees and councils, as well as their presidiums, have the right, within their respective territories, to issue mandatory resolutions, establishing in them certain obligations for the entire population or for its individual groups and for institutions, non-compliance with which entails the imposition of administrative penalties (warning, fine up to 100 rubles, compulsory work up to 30 days), and in cases provided for by law, bringing the guilty parties to court. Departments of executive committees and city councils do not have the right to issue mandatory resolutions. The drafting of projects of local mandatory resolutions is usually carried out by the relevant department of the executive committee (city council), and in the sanitary part by health authorities and sanitary inspections. Each mandatory resolution must provide for: a) the area of application, b) the date of entry into force, which must be at least 15 days, excluding extraordinary circumstances (fighting an outbreak of an epidemic, etc.); c) responsible persons for monitoring compliance; d) the limits of responsibility for violation. According to the law of March 30, 1931, individual local government bodies have different competences in the range of issues for which they have the right to issue mandatory resolutions. In the field of sanitation, this competence of individual local government bodies is as follows: 1) The village soviet has the right to issue mandatory resolutions on issues of sanitary protection of public places, bodies of water and wells, trade in markets, bazaars and fairs and the fight against epizootics. 2) The district executive committee and city council - on issues: a) implementation of sanitary measures for water supply and improvement; b) sanitary protection of public catering and the entire system of food supply; c) sanitary and living conditions of the population; d) prevention and control of infectious and mass diseases; e) sanitary protection of public places and cultural and educational institutions; f) fight against epizootics. 3) Regional and kra executive committees have the right to issue mandatory resolutions on all issues of sanitation. As a general rule, local mandatory resolutions must not contradict existing government resolutions, departmental orders (in the sanitary part - People's Commissariat of Health) and mandatory resolutions of higher executive committees. Sanitary service bodies and their rights (see also Sanitary Supervision, Sanitary Organization). Supervision over the observance of the norms and requirements of sanitary legislation is carried out by sanitary bodies, whose rights are established: a) in the RSFSR by the provisions on sanitary bodies of the republic (decree of the Council of People's Commissars of October 8, 1927, SU 1927, No. 104, art. 695) with additions of March 22, 1928 and on sanitary inspection (decree of the Council of People's Commissars of August 10, 1931, No. 849), b) in the Ukrainian SSR - decrees of the Council of People's Commissars of June 19, 1923 and July 25, 1931; c) in the BSSR - decree of the Council of People's Commissars of October 16, 1926; d) for railway transport - decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of December 28, 1931 (see also the aforementioned resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of December 23, 1933). Similar laws have been enacted in other union republics. Basically, the rights of sanitary bodies are reduced to the following: a) the right to enter all buildings, institutions, enterprises and structures; b) the right to obtain explanations, information and documents necessary in connection with sanitary inspection; c) the right to seize food products and other necessary materials for sanitary analysis; d) the right to demand the elimination of noted sanitary shortcomings and violations; e) the right to impose fines on persons guilty of non-compliance with sanitary requirements, up to 100 rubles, and to bring the guilty to administrative and judicial responsibility; f) the right to conduct investigations in cases of criminal liability and to appear in court as a prosecutor; g) the right to prohibit the use, consumption or sale of equipment items, products and beverages harmful to health, and, if necessary, to destroy these products and beverages; h) the right, prior to the resolution of the issue by administrative and judicial bodies, to close institutions and enterprises if their operation is associated with obvious harm or danger to the health of the working population; i) the right to isolate infectious and suspicious of infection patients. The rights listed in paragraphs a-g inclusive belong to state sanitary inspectors, their assistants, as well as public sanitary inspectors, while the other rights (d-i) belong only to state sanitary inspectors. Thus, Soviet laws have granted sanitary bodies very extensive rights and powers as necessary means for carrying out the extremely responsible functions assigned to them for the radical improvement of all working and living conditions of the working population. Special attention should be paid to the right of sanitary bodies to impose administrative penalties and to bring those guilty of violating sanitary legislation to criminal liability. Where the usual forms of work of the sanitary inspector (see Sanitary Supervision) did not help, in cases where the sanitary inspector encountered resistance from individuals to the measures he was carrying out, when there is a disregard for the inspector's proposals, as a result of which there are certain sanitary violations - the inspector must use the rights granted to him by law to apply administrative penalties, whose role in Soviet practice is basically to prevent the repetition of similar acts. The procedure and forms of imposing a fine by a sanitary inspector are provided for in the RSFSR by the instruction of the People's Commissariat of Health, People's Commissariat of Justice and Main Militia (No. 2/mv of January 4, 1932). According to this instruction, the imposition of a fine is formalized by drawing up a protocol on the noted sanitary violation and a resolution on the imposition of a fine and its amount. The resolution is handed over to the violator in copy, who is obliged within 15 days to pay the fine voluntarily to the appropriate credit institution; in case of non-payment, the fine is compulsorily collected through the militia or replaced with compulsory work. The resolution can be appealed to a higher sanitary inspector or to the district executive committee (city council). A complaint filed within 3 days suspends the collection of the fine.

The procedure for a sanitary inspector to conduct an investigation in cases where offenders are held criminally liable is provided in the RSFSR by a special instruction on this matter by the People's Commissariat of Health and the People's Commissariat of Justice, No. 139/mv of May 7, 1928 (for the Ukrainian SSR, the same from April 3, 1928). In the course of the investigation, the sanitary inspector must follow the instructions of the relevant investigator and prosecutor. The sanitary inspector, like any other investigative body, has the right to interrogate suspects, witnesses, and victims, take necessary measures against suspects to prevent them from evading court and investigation, and appoint expert examinations. The investigation must be completed no later than within a one-month period. Materials from the investigation are submitted by the sanitary inspector to court if: a) if the article of the Criminal Code under which the charge is brought provides for a measure of social protection of imprisonment for a term of more than 1 year, for review and approval to the investigator; b) in other cases, directly to court. In addition to the instructions of the People's Commissariats of Health and Justice, the sanitary inspector is guided in conducting the investigation by the relevant articles of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. S. z. on individual issues. S. z. on border protection. The main law in force in this area is the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of August 23, 1931, No. 14/671 (Collection of Laws 1931, No. 55, art. 355). This law was issued in fulfillment of the international sanitary convention ratified in 1929 by the government of the USSR (see Conventions), and provides for the protection of the borders of the USSR from the importation of infectious diseases from abroad into the territory of the Union and back—plague, cholera, yellow fever, typhus, and smallpox—the right to apply medical-sanitary and sanitary-administrative measures. Medical-sanitary measures include: medical examination, isolation and segregation of patients and those suspicious in health condition, bacteriological research, medical observation, observation, sanitary inspection of cargo, baggage, and vehicles, disinfection, disinsection, deratization, etc. Sanitary-administrative measures include: prohibiting individuals from entering and leaving, prohibiting the import and export of cargo and baggage, closing certain areas to entry and exit, closing borders, etc. All the above-mentioned measures for border sanitary protection are carried out by health authorities, with the exception of closing borders and closing areas to entry and exit; these measures are carried out by order of the Main Administration of Border Guard in agreement with the People's Commissariats of Health of the union republics and other interested departments. On the basis of the law of August 23, 1931, the 'Rules for Sanitary Protection of Borders' were issued on September 25, 1931, by the All-Union Bureau of Foreign Sanitary Information in agreement with the People's Commissariats of Foreign Affairs, Water Transport, OGPU, Water Transport, and the Volga River Fleet, published as a separate brochure (Medgiz, M.-L., 1931). Violators of these rules are subject to a fine of up to 100 rubles in administrative proceedings in accordance with Article 6 of the law 'On Sanitary Protection of Borders,' and in appropriate cases, criminal liability under the Criminal Code of the union republics. Housing and communal legislation. The most important legislative acts in the field of housing sanitation are two laws that have not lost their significance and are still in effect at the present moment, which are among the first of Soviet S. z.: a) the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of June 18, 1919 'On Sanitary Protection of Housing' and b) the same of June 6, 1921 'On Uniting the Entire Matter of Sanitary Protection of Housing in the People's Commissariat of Health'. The first law defined the tasks of housing sanitary inspection: a) examination of housing and sanitary conditions of the population and development of measures for their improvement; b) joint work with other statistical institutions on housing sanitary statistics; c) participation in the development of plans for urban and rural construction and other general issues of housing construction practice; d) participation in the consideration of plans for new buildings, giving opinions on them, and preliminary inspection of newly built residential premises; e) current supervision over the implementation of housing sanitary rules; f) assistance in the proper resettlement of uninsured population groups in residential premises; g) participation in work on sanitary education in the housing issue. The most important guarantee for workers in terms of ensuring their living conditions and the possibility of better sanitary maintenance of housing is the presence in legislation of sanitary standards of living space, which in the RSFSR is established at 8.25 m² of living floor space per person (Circular of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs and People's Commissariat of Health of October 19, 1928). In cases of densification and resettlement, this sanitary standard may not be reduced. Sanitary standards are also taken into account in the unified standards for construction design, approved by the Committee for Standardization under the STO and having the force of law; in these standards, in the part concerning housing construction objects, all requirements of sanitary order are taken into account. Sanitary rules for the construction of residential buildings were issued by the People's Commissariat of Health and the Construction Committee of the RSFSR, No. 247/mv of July 26, 1929 (appendix to the journal 'Questions of Health', No. 29, 1929). In addition to this, S. z. in the field of housing sanitation should include a number of other departmental and interdepartmental orders, rules, instructions (People's Commissariat of Health in agreement with the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, People's Commissariat of Communal Services, Construction Committee), among which the most important are: a) rules for the use of basements and semi-basements for housing—No. 308/mv of September 29, 1929 (appendix to the journal 'Questions of Health', No. 37, 1929); b) on the settlement of newly built housing—No. 230/mv of July 1, 1929 (same, No. 27, 1929); c) instruction to sanitary authorities on the acceptance of newly built and major repaired buildings—No. 19 of October 17, 1929 (same, No. 40, 1929); d) sanitary rules for the maintenance of residential premises—No. 268/81 of September 15, 1928 with amendments of January 28, 1929 ('Questions of Health', No. 19, 1928 and appendix to the journal 'Questions of Health', 1929). In the field of communal improvement and sanitation, sanitary aspects are mainly regulated by local mandatory regulations (see above). Among the decrees of the central government in this area, the following should be noted: a) the law of August 20, 1932 (SU 1932, No. 76) 'On the arrangement of streets and sidewalks'; b) the law of March 7, 1932 (SU 1932, No. 25) 'On the organization of voluntary societies', 'Friends of Green Plantings'. The role of these societies is to stimulate and protect green areas in cities and workers' settlements; c) decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Commission on Cults of January 2, 1932 'On the procedure for arrangement, closure, and liquidation of cemeteries'. - On sanitary protection of drinking water—see Water Legislation and Sanitary Protection Zones. The most significant act of S. z. in the field of housing and communal sanitation in the RSFSR is the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of May 14, 1932 'On measures to improve the sanitary condition of cities and new construction' (SU 1932, No. 14, art. 196), which contains clear instructions to local city councils in the following areas: a) sanitary maintenance of housing and public places; b) protection and development of green plantings; c) water supply; d) sewerage and e) bath and laundry facilities. The law 'On the arrangement of populated places' (on planning) of August 10, 1932 is also of great importance. - Sanitary and food legislation—see Food Legislation. S. z. on labor and production protection. A number of norms in this area are contained in the Labor Code, namely (the numbering of articles is given according to the RSFSR code): a) the mandatory inspection of each enterprise—newly opened, reconstructed, or moved to another building—before its commissioning by organs of sanitary-industrial supervision (art. 138); b) the mandatory maintenance of workplaces in proper sanitary-hygienic condition (art. 139); c) the issuance of special clothing, special devices (art. 141) and special products (fats, neutralizing substances) for the purpose of compensation for occupational hazards (art. 142); d) preliminary medical examination and periodic re-examination of persons engaged in especially harmful productions, separate groups of workers (women, adolescents, art. 143); e) special privileges for pregnant women, for women in general and for adolescents working for hire (reduced working day, additional vacations, etc.; arts. 129-137 inclusive) and others. Finally, the most important health measure is the establishment of a seven-hour working day in most industrial enterprises, the eight-hour day as the maximum, the extreme limitation of laws on overtime work, the reduction of the working day for persons working in harmful conditions, etc., norms of Soviet labor legislation. By the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of July 4, 1932, No. 1054 (Collection of Laws of the USSR 1932, No. 52, art. 317) 'On demarcation of the work of labor and health authorities in enterprises', the health authorities are entrusted with supervision over the sanitary condition of the entire territory of the enterprise, all institutions serving the enterprise (canteens, nurseries, etc.), as well with submitting to labor authorities proposals concerning the improvement of technological processes of production. The entire territory here should be understood not only as the yard, but also as the premises of shops and workshops, where according to the law of July 4, 1932, all health work must be carried out under the supervision of health authorities through their health posts in enterprises; according to the decree.

The People's Commissariat of Health and the People's Commissariat of Labor of the RSFSR by decree of 28/XI 1932, No. 75/mv (appendix to the journal 'On the Health Front,' No. 10, 1932) established that the head of the health post is a state inspector for sanitary supervision at the given enterprise and enjoys all the rights of the latter (see above).- Basic instructions for the work of sanitary authorities in the field of industrial hygiene are given in the instruction of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR No. 270/31 of 22/VIII 1929 (appendix to the journal 'Questions of Health,' No. 33, 1929). Important directives on the work in the field of reducing industrial traumatism and the general morbidity of workers in enterprises are contained in the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 20/VI 1931 'On appropriations for improving working conditions in industry' (Bulletin of Financial and Economic Legislation, No. 22, 1931). The most serious norm of Soviet sanitary legislation in the field of labor and production should be recognized as the existence of legislative norms obligating economic organizations not only to observe the established rules of industrial hygiene but also to continuously improve the sanitary-technical working conditions. This is provided for in the instruction of the People's Commissariat of Labor of the USSR of 28/I 1929 ('News of the People's Commissariat of Labor,' Nos. 7-8, 1929), which contains a list of planned measures for improving working conditions, subject to mandatory inclusion in the enterprise's financial plan; the expenditure of funds allocated for improving working conditions is permitted only for their direct purpose. A serious legal guarantee for taking into account sanitary norms in all labor regulations is the requirement of the law (§ 1 of the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 7/X 1932, SU 1932, No. 79, art. 348) that all mandatory regulations on issues of industrial hygiene be coordinated with the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR. Sanitary legislation for the protection of the living conditions of the working population. This includes legislation in the field of body hygiene and household items and in the field of sanitary-hygienic service for the working population. In the part concerning household items and personal hygiene in the RSFSR, sanitary legislation is still very incomplete. It is represented only by two orders of the People's Commissariat of Health concerning the procedure for issuing permits for the manufacture of hygienic and cosmetic preparations and their composition (circular No. 254/64 of 30/VII 1929; appendix to the journal 'Questions of Health,' No. 29, 1929) and rules for their registration (circular No. 24/64 of 29/X 1929; ibid., No. 42, 1929). Sanitary aspects in the part concerning furniture, clothing, footwear, etc., are not regulated by our sanitary legislation. Sanitary requirements for enterprises for the sanitary-hygienic service of the population are provided for in local mandatory regulations (see above). The People's Commissariat of Health has issued rules for the design, equipment, and maintenance of corresponding individual objects as guiding instructions for local authorities when they issue local mandatory regulations for these objects, namely: a) for barber shops - No. 122 of 4/V 1928 ('Questions of Health,' No. 10, 1928); b) for ordinary bathhouses - No. 253 of 30/VII 1929 and for simplified bathhouses - No. 362 of 11/IX 1932 (appendix to the journal 'Questions of Health,' No. 30, 1929 and to the journal 'On the Health Front,' No. 30, 1932); c) for bathing places and bathing facilities - No. 253 of 30/VIII 1929 (appendix to the journal 'Questions of Health,' No. 20, 1929); d) for laundries - No. 170/mv of 4/VI 1930 (ibid., No. 20, 1930). The resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 14/V 1923 'On measures to improve the sanitary condition of cities and new construction' (see above) also imposes on city councils the obligation to establish strict control over the observance of sanitary-hygienic rules in the bathhouse-laundry business. Sanitary legislation for the prevention and elimination of infectious and mass diseases. The growing successes of socialist construction and the increasing prosperity of the working masses against this background have made it possible to decree measures aimed at the radical elimination of epidemic foci in the USSR. 'The introduction of mandatory smallpox vaccination (in the RSFSR - law of 18/X 1924), measures to combat malaria (in the RSFSSR - law of 12/V 1924) marked the beginning of systematically developing sanitary legislation in the field of anti-epidemic measures (see also Infectious Diseases). The resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 19/VII 1930 'On the fight against epidemics' (appendix to the journal 'On the Health Front,' No. 28, 1930) marks a new stage in this area of sanitary legislation. This law provides for: a) the implementation of decisive measures to eliminate parasitic typhus and smallpox; b) the elimination of malaria foci; c) the widespread implementation among the population of preventive vaccinations against typhoid fever; d) strengthening the sanitary service of children's institutions to combat childhood infections and full provision of hospital care for children suffering from scarlet fever and diphtheria. To carry out these measures, the law of 19/VII 1930 has imposed a number of obligations on local authorities and economic organizations. The law of the Ukrainian SSR of 20/III 1929 'On the participation of economic organizations in expenses for carrying out anti-epidemic measures' (SU Ukrainian SSR, No. 10, art. 77, 1929) also has great practical importance. Among the basic legislative norms in the fight against acute infectious diseases, in addition to the laws mentioned above, the following should be noted: a) the requirement of legislation for the mandatory isolation of patients with plague, cholera, yellow fever, typhus, relapsing fever, and smallpox (§ 5 of Article X of the Rules on the Sanitary Protection of Borders, see above); b) the mandatory requirement for medical personnel to send urgent notifications about acute infectious diseases (provided for in the Ukrainian SSR by a government resolution - resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of 25/IX 1926, and in the RSFSR only by a departmental order of the People's Commissariat of Health - resolution of 7/VIII 1918); c) criminal liability for failure to comply with rules specially issued for the fight against epidemics (articles of the Criminal Code: in the RSFSR - 181, in the Ukrainian SSR - 193, in the BSSR - 112). The current legislation nowhere provides for the possibility of compulsory isolation of a patient with an acute infectious disease. This gap is filled by including the relevant norm in local mandatory regulations. A large amount of departmental official material (orders of the People's Commissariats of Health of the union republics) is devoted to the fight against acute infectious diseases, clarifying the basic legislative acts listed above and touching on a number of new aspects: the implementation of disinfection, the fight against bacillus carriers, the implementation of preventive vaccinations against measles, diphtheria, scarlet fever, the duration of isolation of infectious patients, the supply of bacterial preparations, etc. The fight against leprosy_g, which is a rather rare disease on the territory of the USSR, was decreed in the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of 10/VII 1928. This law imposed on the People's Commissariat of Health the obligation to register all lepers, their isolation in leprosaria or at home, and treatment. For the transportation of lepers by rail and water routes, special favorable conditions have been established.- Legislation in the field of combating venereal diseases is characterized in the RSFSR by the following government resolutions (similar laws have also been issued in other republics of the Union): a) the resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of 24/I 1927 (SU 1927, No. 13, art. 90) 'On measures to combat venereal diseases,' which grants health departments the right to apply compulsory examinations and treatment of venereal disease patients in necessary cases. The existence of an extensive network of venereal dispensaries created essential prerequisites for this law to be implemented, b) Article 150 of the Criminal Code, establishing the application by the court of measures of social protection in relation to a person who has infected another person with a venereal disease or who puts another person in danger of infection; Article 132 of the Code of Laws on Marriage, Family and Guardianship, establishing the obligation for persons registering a marriage in the registry offices to submit a statement that they are mutually informed of each other's health status. The legislative acts mentioned above, together with a number of resolutions of the People's Commissariat of Health, form an extensive sanitary legislation in the field of prevention and combat of venereal diseases. In the field of combating tuberculosis, there is an extensive departmental sanitary legislation. The issuance of the Regulations on specialized medical-prophylactic institutions for tuberculosis patients (tuberculosis dispensary, tuberculosis hospital, tuberculosis point, tuberculosis sanatorium) has provided a legal basis for these institutions, the growth and strengthening of which are ensured by the general purposefulness and development of Soviet health care against the background of the successes of socialist construction. In the list of diseases entitling to additional space, issued by the NKVD and the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR in implementation of the resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 28/11 1930 'On the right to use additional space,' it is provided that: a) active tuberculosis of the lungs and other organs with the excretion of tuberculosis bacilli entitles to a separate room, and b) the same process without the excretion of tuberculosis bacilli entitles to additional space of 10 m². In circular No. 125/mv of 7/V 1928 of the People's Commissariat of Health and the NKVD, specific detailed instructions are given on the procedure for implementing the right of tuberculosis patients to additional space or a room. Special orders of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR provide for the forms of work of health departments in the fight against bone-joint tuberculosis (No. 111 of 13/III 1929) and skin tuberculosis (No. 172 of 18/V 1929). Sanitary legislation for the protection of special groups of the population [resettlers (see), called up to the Red Army, contingent of corrective labor institutions].

Taking into account the considerable epidemiological danger of moving population masses (settlers), the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issued a resolution of 11/III 1932 'On the sanitary service of settlers and workers moving to work in other areas' (SU 1932, No. 25, art. 123). This law imposed on economic bodies managing settlers and recruitment of labor: a) to require from workers and settlers certificates of smallpox vaccination; b) to ensure the conduct of sanitary processing (haircut, bath, disinfection of clothing and linen, etc.); c) to report in advance to health departments the necessary information about the number of workers being recruited and settlers. The instruction of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR of 27/VIII 1928 for Ks 323 imposes strict requirements regarding the sanitary service in transit of persons discharged from the Red Army and admitted there.-In relation to corrective labor institutions, the main act of sanitary legislation in the RSFSR is the 'Regulation on the medical-sanitary service of places of detention', issued by the People's Commissariat of Health and the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs on 19/V 1927 on the basis of Art. 195 of the Corrective Labor Code. This regulation provides for the following sanitary measures: a) the mandatory quarantine for a period of not less than 14 days for newly admitted to corrective labor institutions; b) regular sanitary processing of prisoners; c) ensuring in cells and in production premises normal sanitary-hygienic conditions (light, ventilation, proper air temperature, presence for each deprived of liberty of a bed, mattress, pillow, bedding); d) exclusion of the 'parasha' system and washing troughs in cells; e) compliance with the requirements of food hygiene; f) providing each person deprived of liberty with at least an hour's walk daily. With the transfer in 1932 of the management of medical-sanitary service of corrective labor institutions to the People's Commissariat of Justice, the aforementioned regulation retained its force and was supplemented by a number of departmental orders of the NKJ (nutrition standards, forms and procedure of sanitary service, etc.). Sanitary legislation on transport. In the railway transport sector, with the transfer according to the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of 8/IV 1931 (SZ 1931, No. 21) of medical-sanitary affairs to the People's Commissariat of Communications, in which a medical-sanitary administration (Tran-sanupr NKPS USSR) was organized, the main sanitary measures are provided for in mandatory decrees and orders of the NKPS, and locally - by road administrations and district chiefs, which in the railway strip of land have force similar to local mandatory decrees (see above).-From government legislative acts in the field of sanitary legislation, the main one for railway transport is the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 1179 of 28/XII 1931 'On improving the sanitary condition on transport'; this law provides for the creation on railway transport under the NKPS of a sanitary inspection (see). The sanitary service of water transport in the center is under the People's Commissariat of Health of the union republics, and locally - in water health departments, under which the sanitary inspection of water transport is located. The regulation on this inspection was issued by the NKZdr. on 15/XII 1931 (appendix to the journal 'On the Health Front', No. 5, 1932). On the demarcation of functions between water and territorial sanitary supervision, there are provisions in the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 23/III 1927 (SU 1927, No. 29, art. 199). According to this law, in case of occurrence or threat of an epidemic, territorial sanitary bodies have the right to conduct sanitary examinations in the water transport strip jointly with the sanitary organization of the latter. In the field of general organization of sanitary-preventive work, water and territorial health departments must work in coordination on the basis of mutual accounting of their plans. Sanitary legislation on water transport in the RSFSR is abundant in a number of orders of the NKZdr. RSFSR on individual branches of sanitary affairs (sanitary processing, housing and communal sanitation, food, etc.). Sanitary legislation for the protection of the health of children and adolescents (see also Protection of the health of children and adolescents). According to paragraph 'e' § 4 of Part II of the position of the NKZdr. approved by the VTsIK and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR on 28/III 1927, the latter is entrusted with 'the organization and management of the protection of the health of children and adolescents, including in factory and plant apprentice schools, as well as of the rising generation'. Since the general guidance of the social upbringing of the rising generation is carried out by the People's Commissariat of Education, it became necessary to regulate the issue of demarcation of functions between the People's Commissariat of Education and the NKZdr., which in the RSFSR was implemented by the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of 7/III 1931 'On the organization of pedological work in the republic carried out by various departments'. In § 3 of this law, the NKZdr. is entrusted with carrying out 'medical-pedagogical work through the system of dispensarization in the direction of improving the labor and living conditions of children and adolescents'. This work is carried out in the following forms: a) examination of the biological characteristics of children and adolescents, b) participation in examinations of the production and cultural-living environment, c) mass health measures, d) development of hygienic norms of labor and rest regimes, e) selection of physically weak children, f) participation in professional work, professional counseling, formation of children's groups, etc. The most important legislative act, which has the most serious significance and in the line of sanitary legislation, is the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 15/II 1932 'On regulating the internal routine in mass schools' (SU 1932, No. 16, art. 77). This law regulated the school routine, which is extremely important from the point of view of protecting the health of schoolchildren, and imposed a number of specific obligations on the NKZdr. in the field of school sanitation. Personal responsibility for the sanitary-hygienic condition and cleaning of school premises is imposed by § 7 of this law on the heads of schools. The temporary regulation on school-sanitary inspection issued by the NKZdr. RSFSR with the consent of the People's Commissariat of Education under No. 210 of 15/XII 1931 (appendix to the journal 'On the Health Front', Nos. 1-2, 1932) defines the scope of duties and rights of school-sanitary inspectors, who are part of the general system of sanitary inspection of the NKZdr. Considering physical culture during the period of socialist construction as one of the most important links in the general chain of measures for improving the health of the rising generation and all working people, the Soviet government paid great attention to the legislative regulation of this issue. The general guidance of measures in the field of physical culture is carried out by the higher councils of physical culture under the Central Executive Committees of the union republics, and the NKZdr. is entrusted with the sanitary service and medical supervision over the conduct of physical culture and the use of the latter as a therapeutic-prophylactic and auxiliary method (decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 12/VI 1923 'On strengthening medical supervision over physical culture'). The decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 28/X 1931 'On the construction of physical culture institutions' established the mandatory provision in the construction of new buildings for educational institutions, clubs, houses of culture, industrial enterprises, etc., of special premises for physical culture classes with the establishment of the type of premises for individual categories of institutions and enterprises. This law provided a material basis for the successful development of physical culture in the country. Instructional guidelines for the work of health authorities in the field of medical supervision over physical culture are contained in the circular of the NKZdr. RSFSR No. 087/c of 1/IV 1927 (Bull. NKZdr., No. 8, 1927) and No. 92 of 18/V 1931 (appendix to the journal 'On the Health Front', Nos. 18-19, 1931); in the latter - in the field of physical culture in production. Sanitary legislation for the protection of motherhood and infancy in the USSR (see also Protection of motherhood and infancy) relies to a large extent on the norms of the Labor Code (4-month maternity leave for mothers, special privileges for pregnant and breastfeeding women) and laws on marriage, family and guardianship (see Alimony). In addition, there is extensive departmental material from the NKZdr. on health measures for pregnant women and infants, such as: a) circular of the NKZdr. No. 363 of 14/X 1932 'On the fight against infections in nurseries' (appendix to the journal 'On the Health Front', No. 30, 1932); b) decree of the Collegium of the NKZdr. of 25/XI 1932 'On the implementation of the decisions of the CC VKP(b) and the government on the state of nursery affairs' (appendix to the journal 'On the Health Front', No. 1, 1933), etc. The implementation of sanitary legislation norms in the field of protection of motherhood and infancy is ensured by providing a solid financial basis for this matter, which is basically provided for in the RSFSR by the decree of the VTsIK and the Council of People's Commissars of 20/IX 1932 'On nursery service for children in cities, industrial centers, state farms, MTS and collective farms'. - Sanitary legislation on resort affairs. The governments of the union republics, on the territory of which there are resort areas, take a number of measures for their sanitary protection, which is formalized in legislative decrees. In the RSFSR, the law of 12/IX 1923 (SU 1923, No. 78, art. 751) established mountain-sanitary protection of health resorts of all-Union and local importance. For each health resort, a sanitary protection zone is established, according to the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of 20/III 1919 (SU 1919, No. 19, art. 231), with division into zones according to the degree of importance of protection. The implementation of sanitary protection of resorts is entrusted to mountain-sanitary commissions: a) local - at the resort and b) central.

The Regulation on Mountain Sanitary Protection was issued in development of the law of 12/IX 1923 by the People's Commissariat of Health and the Supreme Economic Council of 20/III 1924 (SU 1924, No. 39, art. 355). Regulations on individual sanitary protection zones with clarification of districts by zones are issued by the People's Commissariat of Health. By the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 6/VI 1925 (SU 1925, No. 43, art. 314), the districts surrounding resorts on the coastal strip of the Black Sea were declared ^kUR0R^tnye zones of all-Union significance. The forests in this strip were declared protective. In the instruction of 5/II 1927, issued in development of this regulation, the procedure for planning activities in resort zones in relation to agricultural, forestry, mining, and urban economy is established in such a way as to exclude the possibility of destructive influence on resort areas and to ensure their most complete use for therapeutic purposes. In Circular No. 72 of 16/IV 1931 (appendix to the journal 'On the Health Front,' No. 16, 1931), the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR was instructed to bring resorts into proper sanitary condition and listed measures in this direction. By Decree No. 38 of 17/II 1932, the People's Commissariat of Health established detailed rules for the sanitary protection of mineral springs (appendix to the journal 'On the Health Front,' No. 7, 1932). The rules for planning and development of resorts of all-Union significance, approved by the People's Commissariat of Health on 17/11 1927, establish indicators ensuring the best possible sanitary condition of the resort. The systematic nature of measures in this direction, the implementation of which is ensured by the fact that the entire resort fund is under state management, constitutes the main content of sanitary legislation in resort affairs. Sanitary legislation in other countries. The development of sanitary legislation in various European countries was everywhere primarily associated with the tasks of combating epidemics that sharply violated the economic interests of the ruling classes of the population. Epidemics led to measures to close borders, disrupted normal transportation, hindered trade, especially with colonies, and ultimately affected the operation of industrial enterprises. Therefore, the state power was forced to directly intervene in this matter by issuing a series of laws regulating the fight against epidemics. The latter had to rely on permanent sanitary bodies in charge of this branch of health care, and thus the need for legislation on the general organization of sanitary affairs arose. At the same time, the connection between the poor condition of cities and the occurrence of epidemics raised questions about communal measures, and here too the issues of improvement of large central cities in their central parts were put in the first place (the poor condition of the outskirts of European cities has not yet been eliminated). Thus, the sanitary legislation of European states in its first period of development (19th century) pursued mainly the tasks of combating dangerous epidemics, the development of communal improvement, and to some extent food sanitation (the fight against food adulteration). Along with this, sanitary legislation to one degree or another formalized the general forms of state sanitary organization, its rights, functions, and the scope of its activities. The sanitary legislation of individual countries was subsequently supplemented by international sanitary legislation in the form of international sanitary conventions for combating certain infections (see Conventions). The second period of sanitary legislation in European countries coincides with the post-war period, which is characterized by a number of facts of deterioration of the sanitary condition of all countries, the growth of some infections, etc., against the background of a chronically growing economic crisis. This period in the first years after the war led to the creation everywhere of new central health authorities, i.e., ministries of health. At the same time, sanitary legislation expanded the scope of its impact; in the period 1919-30, in a number of countries, laws were published on combating so-called social diseases - tuberculosis, venereal diseases; laws on the protection of motherhood and infancy, on combating malignant tumors, etc. In a number of countries, these laws are now being formalized in the form of special sanitary codes. Everywhere, a characteristic feature of the class legislation of bourgeois countries is the predominantly narrow medical and technical nature of the relevant provisions and codes. Elements of social protection of the population of a social-preventive nature in sanitary legislation are extremely inadequately reflected everywhere, characterizing one or another stage in the development mainly of measures to protect bourgeois groups from various harmful factors and ultimately facilitating and promoting new forms of exploitation and profiteering. Before the war, the most developed sanitary codes were: the famous 'Public Health Act' (1875) in England; further the 'Law on the Protection of Public Health' (1902) in France and individual laws in Germany on combating infectious diseases (1874, 1900). After the war, such general laws were published in Turkey (Code of 1930), Bulgaria, Poland, etc. In non-European countries, the development of sanitary legislation generally follows the same path (USA, English colonies, Japan). Sanitary legislation of individual countries - see articles on individual countries: Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Belgium, Norway, Romania, Holland, Denmark, Greece, etc.