The article reveals trends in the development of legal standards as an international legal category, defines the content of these standards and their classification. It has been found that the standard in the legal context, first of all it should be found out: whether the standard is a separate legal category that enshrines rights, freedoms and obligations; or a standard is a legal category that determines the starting point for the development of norms, but at the same time does not give rise to clear rights, freedoms and obligations.
It is noted that there is no single prevailing position regarding the classification of international legal standards, however, the article proves that it is appropriate to classify them according to the following criteria: 1) according to the external form of expression - contractual, customary, those contained in acts of advisory and consultative bodies of international organizations , legal doctrines such as those enshrined in court decisions of international judicial bodies; 2) according to the subjects of their establishment - international standards of the UN, the Council of Europe, the EU, their advisory and consultative bodies, etc.; 3) by content - goals, principles, norms; 4) by scope – universal, regional, particular; 5) by legal force - imperative (formally binding), dispositive (formally optional), declarative, recommendatory (the so-called "soft law"); 6) by functions in the mechanism of international legal regulation - material and procedural; 7) according to the degree of certainty of the content: absolutely defined (in qualitative and quantitative terms), relatively defined (if used as evaluative concepts).
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