Annotation. The article explores the problems of the legal status of the regulatory authorities in the energy sector of Ukraine in the context of the administrative reform currently taking place in the Ukraine and the fulfillment of the EU requirements in this sphere. Based on the analysis of the EU legislation, in particular Directive

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The aims of this research are: to explore the connection between the right to access to modern energy services and children's rights, as stipulated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child; to analyze how the rights of children are addressed in the energy policy and law of certain EU Member States and Ukraine; and to develop recommendations on how to make national energy policy and law more child-sensitive. To achieve these goals, the following objectives were set: 1) to explore the correlation between the right to access to modern energy services and children's rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child; 2) to analyze the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) of certain EU Member States in order to find out how children's rights are addressed in policy and law and to identify the most common practices; 3) to analyze the current and prospective legislation in Ukraine that relates to children's rights to modern energy services; and 4) to develop recommendations on how to make national energy policy and law more child-sensitive. The main results of this research are: 1) access to modern energy services is vital for children's enjoyment of their rights (e.g., the right to life, survival, and development, the right to health, the right to education, the right to adequate housing, the right to be protected from any form of violence, neglect, or negligence, and the right to be heard); 2) states shall specifically address issues of children's rights (in particular, by tackling energy inequality, considering the risks for the concrete category of children, targeting certain rights of children that depend on access to modern energy services, and introducing concrete actions and outcome indicators) in the strategic documents and legal acts that relate to universal access to modern energy services; 3) the social protection of low-income families with children in the form of discounts for energy bills and state support for the implementation of energy efficiency improvement measures in residential buildings (as mechanisms for tackling energy poverty), the encouragement of the energy renovation of pre-school and school buildings, and the development of special educational tools on sustainable energy for pupils are considered the most common practices in certain EU Member States; 4) whilst Ukrainian energy policy and law includes some instruments that relate to children's rights as energy consumers, it lacks a complete approach; and 5) the energy policy and law of Ukraine should specifically address children's rights as energy consumers, specifically those based on the common approaches used in EU Member States, in order to consider the peculiarities of children's energy needs.

Yuliya Vashchenko, Kijevo nacionalinio Taraso Ševčenkos universiteto Teisės fakulteto Administracinės teisės katedros docentė. Mokslinių tyrimų kryptys: administracinė teisė, energetikos teisė, finansų teisė, žmogaus teisės.

The energy sector is a strategic industry of each state. Energy industry is one of the most important regulated fields at the EU level and a crucial direction of cooperation between the EU and Ukraine. EU legislation, primarily directives and regulations from the Third Energy Package, prescribe requirements in respect of the legal status of national regulatory authorities in the fields of energy and natural gas. Ukraine, as a full-fledged member of the Energy Community, as well as in line with the EU‒Ukraine Association Agreement, shall institute laws and regulations necessary for the implementation of those requirements. In particular, EU legislation stipulates requirements with regard to the independence of national regulatory authorities from other state authorities during the exercise of their regulatory powers. In recent years, Ukrainian public authorities have undertaken steps to develop and approve a legal framework in order to implement the requirements of EU energy legislation, in particular those related to the legal status of national regulatory authorities. The approval of the Law of Ukraine on the National Energy and Communal Services Regulatory Commission in 2016 was one of the critical achievements in this direction. However, the new Law has not solved the problem of the constitutional legal status of the energy regulator. The Constitution of Ukraine’s provisions specifying the powers of the President of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as against permanent independent regulatory authorities (e.g., pertaining to the establishment, appointment and dismissal of members, accountability) shall be amended in order to bolster the principle of independence of national regulatory authorities in the energy sector as prescribed by EU legislation.