Non-standardization of employment has become the main trend of the labour markets in the globalized economy. Attempting to enhance the flexibility of employment relations the legislators in BRICS countries are also the part of this trend. The forms of the nonstandard employment are numerous, the present paper concentrates upon the following ones: temporary employment, part-time and multi-party employment relationship. The authors review the experience of four BRICS countries in regulating non-standard forms of employment and determine what were the specific reasons for adopting them in Russia, China, Brazil, and South Africa. The national parts are introduced by the consideration of the international standards of protection of employees working under non-standard contracts. It is argued that even though these four states did not ratify the ILO Convention No. 181 Private Employment Agencies Convention (1997) and only Russia ratified ILO Part-Time Work Convention (No. 175), the ILO approach has influenced the development of national regulations. Though the equal treatment of all workers is lacking in many aspects of employment relations. In the national parts the authors trace the changes in employment law which reflect the pursuit of flexibilization of the labour market and, as in Brazil, the need to formalize employment relations.

With the rapid development of digital technologies and globalization, telework is becoming increasingly common. For the BRICS countries, the formation of a modern legal regulation model for telework is of great importance. In drafting legislation, it is essential to take into account economic and cultural factors, as well as the need to ensure gender equality. This article presents an analysis of current trends in telework development in the BRICS countries. Its findings reveal various reasons for a growing need to regulate telework. For Brazil, the issue of ecology plays an important role; for China and India, the possibility of integration into the world economy; in Russia, the focus is still on the procedural issues concerning the conclusion and termination of employment contracts; in South Africa, the issue of ensuring not only gender equality, but also racial equality is acute. The analysis gives the authors grounds to conclude that the BRICS countries are still lagging behind the United States and the European Union in the area of telework labor law, despite its widespread prevalence. The BRICS countries do not yet produce the necessary statistics on the prevalence of telework. Issues relating to BRICS's deepening integration require the development of common approaches to regulating the work of teleworkers. The harmonization of legislation between Russia and China is of particular importance due to the territorial factor.

Currently, there is a need for reform of global monetary circulation and credit, which in a sense has stalled. The key is to restore the connection between monetary circulation and real production. In the first part of this study, I provide a brief analysis of the catastrophic consequences that the current design of reserve currencies has led to for the world economy. At the same time, the transition from the dollar to other reserve currencies operating on the same principles, the ethos of which is now being actively promoted in the West, will not improve the situation. In the second part, I demonstrate the efforts being made to de-dollarize settlements by both the BRICS, the EU, and the EAEU countries. The third part shows the successful historical experience of the transferable ruble as an international currency that functioned in 1960-1980 on non-discriminatory principles within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). In the fourth part, the international currencies already functioning in the world are described, as well as some existing proposals for the introduction of new international currencies. I argue that reliable physical access to reserves in basic food and medicines in controlled warehouses is becoming a matter of great importance. The transition is necessary from the ideology of reserve currencies to the ideology of reserves of critical goods. Such an incentive of a new BRICS currency on the demand side will be food and healthcare security. On the supply side, for all states that have established a currency, there should be a clear vision of how they can develop their exports using this currency. In order to secure currency, such goods must be pledged to international BRICS warehouses that correspond to the main export directions of the project countries and/or are critical for their import. These are basic foods such as grains, then medicines, fuel and energy resources, and metals.

This article discusses how foreign companies doing business in South Africa during periods of financial distress and registered locally as external companies are, as a recent High Court decision confirms, denied the formal debt-relief measures of business rescue and therefore a compromise with creditors because of being excluded by the definition of “company” in the Companies Act 71 of 2008. Nor, for the same reason, may these companies, if solvent, rely on the current liquidation procedures. But they may possibly use the procedure preserved in the otherwise repealed Companies Act 61 of 1973 for liquidation as far as the transitional arrangements in the Companies Act 71 of 2008 allow. The purposive solution suggested in this article for the interplay between the two Acts may need legislative attention. This article surveys other possibilities relevant to these companies such as informal voluntary arrangements, applications for winding-up, ordinary debt collection, and perhaps compulsory sequestration applications. Finally, it raises the policy issue for the legislature to consider why these companies should be denied business rescue and/or a compromise with their creditors when these formal debtrelief measures might help them survive their financial stress and emerge stronger, to the advantage of themselves, their creditors, their stakeholders and communities, and the entire nation. It is submitted that these issues could and should be considered as part of the current law reform process of South African insolvency law.

The article considers the phenomenon of federal relations in modern Russia from a theoretical and normative point of view. Studying related categories, such as federalism, federation and federal system, the author comes to the conclusion that it is federal relations, which by their nature are purely legal relations, are the core of any federal system. It is the analysis of the dynamics of development of these relations that shows the viability of a particular federal system. Using the concept of systems theory, the author reveals the structure of federal relations, which includes their subjects, objects and content. In turn, the content of federal relations can be revealed using the principles of both the horizontal and the vertical separation of powers. In this regard, not only normative regulation (the Constitution, federal and regional laws), but also judicial practice are of great importance: namely, decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which handed down a significant number of decisions revealing the essence of federal relations in specific cases and resolving existing problems. The development of the federal system, and, consequently, the actual federal relations can be traced in examples of an institutional and regulatory nature. Vivid examples of this development are structural changes in the federal system associated with the formation of a new constituent entity of the federation and the adoption of a new constituent entity in the federation. Such examples have occurred in modern Russia, although in the case of the adoption of new entities in the current regulatory framework, certain problems are found that should be eliminated by making appropriate amendments to the law governing the procedure for such adoption. The COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, has affected virtually every nation in the world. The relationship between the federal center and the constituent entities of the federation in such an extraordinary situation has been affected too and has undergone certain changes. Their analysis cannot but lead to a correction of the normative regulation of federal relations in the event of similar situations in the future. Amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation have affected a large layer of public relations. Federal relations are no exception, since the “Federated Structure” section of the Constitution includes a number of rather interesting changes.

The relevance of the research issue is its novelty and socially significant conditionality provided by law of the legal and social “scenario” of responsible parenthood, prescribing common standards for parents raising minors. It is well known that the regulation of family relations, including parents and children, is one of the most relevant international research topics. In this regard, this article aims to obtain an overall view of the institution of responsible parenthood, included in the legal regulation in a set of rules and regulations established by the state and forming its special content. The leading approach (method) to the study of this problem is legal and sociological, allowing for a comprehensive review of the legal and social content of responsible parenthood on the example of regulation. The article presents relevant issues of responsible parenthood and its development based on specific laws; revealing its legal and social content while considering the potential of this type of parenthood. The research has scientific novelty, as it is the first attempt to consider the legal model of responsible parenthood on the example of Russian legislation. These materials can provide theoretical and practical value for further scientific research, as well as updating the regulatory approach to the regulation of family relations.

International Research and Educational Program “BRICS School” took place in Moscow on 5–10 October 2020.