Annotation

The article examines carsharing as a legal category used in scholarly literature and regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation and foreign states. The purpose of the study is to identify legally relevant features of carsharing that make it possible to distinguish it from vehicle lease, rental of movables, carriage, ridesharing and other models of shared use of vehicles. The methodology includes formal legal, comparative legal and systemic methods. The author analyzes Russian and foreign scholarly approaches, as well as definitions of carsharing contained in Russian federal and regional regulatory legal acts and in foreign legislation. The study substantiates that, for comprehensive legal regulation, carsharing should not be defined exclusively through a digital service or a short-term vehicle lease. The qualifying features of carsharing include short-term provision of a vehicle for possession and use, the consumer purpose of such use, participation of a specialized organization, and the possibility of consecutive use of the vehicle by an indefinite circle of persons. The article concludes that a definition of carsharing should take into account both the private-law content of the relevant relationship and the organizational features of this activity. On this basis, the author proposes a definition of carsharing.