The necessity of ensuring sustainable development of the Ukrainian insurance market on the basis of the integration and harmonization with the EU countries, the introduction to the national legislation of European standards, principles, and culture of provision of insurance services objectively determine the need to improve the legal regulation of provision of insurance services. The specifics of insurance services require profound and comprehensive research of various aspects of this legal category in order to increase the level of insurance protection and determine the essence of providing insurance services in modern management conditions.

 The purpose of the article is to disclose the economic and legal nature of insurance services as a result of insurers’ activity and realization of a comparative analysis of existing in the legal doctrine of economic law definitions of insurance and insurance services, insurance product, and their correlation.

Considering the fact that in the scientific environment, there are quite many theoretical concepts when the insurance service is considered as an action, activity, economic good, functions, economic relations, or operation, it is necessary to clarify the concept of insurance serves as a body of process and result.

It is noted that the insurance service is a complex legal category, the essence of which is complex and can be considered in economic and legal aspects, focusing on the inherent characteristics of the product, which has a price and cost nature. It is substantiated that an important manifestation of the specifics of insurance services is the unity of the process of providing the service and its result – meeting the needs of insurers in insurance protection. Based on this approach, the classification of insurance services is proposed, which envisages the separation of two main groups – the main and additional. Insurance protection services should be considered as the main ones, while other services that do not provide insurance protection are additional.

As a result of the analysis of the basic concepts of understanding of insurance service, it is additionally argued that taking into account the economic and legal nature of insurance as a kind of economic activity, insurance service is not reduced to the action itself or activity of the insurer and can be considered as a separate phenomenon that has the character of intangible welfare and will consist in the provision of insurance protection by the insurer to the insured in case of certain events (insured events).

Accordingly, the process of providing insurance services in the economic and legal sense is proposed to be considered as a set of actual and/or legal actions of the insurer (which have the significance of a legal fact, as their commission causes legal consequences for the insured), aimed at preventing, overcoming and compensation for damage caused to specific objects, material goods of legal entities and individuals, life and health of individuals, etc., and occurs in a certain manner determined by the terms of the contract and/or legal requirements and involves several stages, including concluding a contract and properly fulfilling their obligations by the participants in the process.

The authors conclude that it is necessary to clarify in economic legislation the concept of insurance as a kind of economic activity considering the classification of insurance services into basic and additional.

Accordingly, it is proposed to consider insurance as an activity of specially authorized state organizations and business entities (insurers) aimed at providing services to legal entities or citizens (insured) to protect their property interests in case of events (insurance cases) specified by law or insurance contract, at the expense of monetary funds, which are formed by the payment of insurance premiums by insurers, as well as the provision of other additional services (repair of damaged property, legal assistance, replacement of damaged property, consulting, etc.).

To ensure practical aspects in the development of modern approaches to the legal regulation of the provision of insurance services, it is proposed to amend the current legislation, in particular the Commercial Code of Ukraine.

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Theses

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