Abstract: The subject of this research is the legal regime of social franchising in the Russian Federation. The object of this research is the social emerging between the actors of social franchising. The article outlines the essential characteristics of social franchising on the basis of existing research and effective legislation of the foreign countries. Attention is given to the role of the phenomenon under review within the franchising system and its related to the concession agreement. The article explores the existing legal regulation of social franchising in the Russian Federation and formulates the conclusion on purposefulness of its improvement. The scientific novelty consists in comprehensive examination of social franchising from the legal perspective, determination of its role within the system of the types of franchising, and recommendations for the improvement of the corresponding legal regime. The conclusion is made that social franchising represents the system of relations that are based on the contract on the exercise of exclusive rights. Similar to commercial franchising, the central place is held by the intellectual-legal and obligatory aspect of relations, but the fundamental difference lies is the vector towards fulfillment of the socially useful functions, alleviation of social problems, and rendering aid to vulnerable population. The development of this institution requires elaboration of the special legislation, since the norms of the Chapter 54 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation do not correspond with the established practice of social franchising.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the legal regulation of franchising at the current stage of economic development. The object of this research is social relations emerging as a result of conducting business activity in the form of franchising. The present state of legal regulation of franchising in the Russian Federation is being analyzed. Special attention is paid to the aspects of regulation of this institution in the conditions of digitalization. The author examines the prospects of using smart contracts in the sphere of franchising, peculiarities of digital elements within a franchise, concept of digital franchising, and prospects of its regulation. The scientific novelty consists in examination of franchising in the conditions of digital economy from the perspective of analysis and determination of the prospect of legal regulation of this institutions. It is concluded that the improvement of regulation of franchising in the context of digital economy in the Russian Federation is possible through the following avenues: 1) simplified procedure of state registration for granting exclusive rights based on the agreement of commercial concession; establishment of alternative methods of identification of the entity who expresses statement of intention; 2) introduction of amendments to the Part 3 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation for assigning legal status to such objects as cloud technologies and big data; 3) improvement of norms of the Article 1033 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation to specify the admissibility of restrictive terms with regards to user activity in the Internet; 4) formulation of regulatory norms for rendering digital services,.