Legal opinion on the difference between the definition of the subject of the contract for the provision of services and the subject of the contract for the performance of works
Definition of the concept of “work” according to the Civil Code
According to Article 837 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, works are performed under a contract under which one party (the contractor) undertakes to perform certain work at its own risk on behalf of the other party (the customer), and the customer undertakes to accept and pay for the work performed. A subcontract can be concluded for the manufacture, processing, processing, repair of an item or for the performance of other work with the transfer of its result to the customer.
Therefore, works should be considered actions aimed at achieving a material result, which may consist in the creation of a thing, its processing or processing, etc. The result of the work is determined in advance in the contract of the parties and is determined primarily by the person who ordered the work.
The result of work to be recognized as an object of civil rights must be materialized in created, repaired, restored things. The result of the work in these cases must be separated from the very action of the subject from its creation and be capable of being transferred to an authorized person (customer). This feature makes it possible to distinguish the results of works from services.
Definition of the concept of “services” according to the Civil Code
According to Article 901 of the Civil Code of Ukraine: services are provided under a contract for the provision of services, under which one party (the contractor) undertakes to provide a service at the request of the other party (the customer) that is consumed in the process of committing a certain action or carrying out a certain activity, and the customer is obliged undertakes to pay the executor for the specified service, unless otherwise stipulated by the contract.
From the definition, it can be concluded that the service does not have an objective (material) form, since it is inseparable from the activity of its subject and is consumed in the process of this activity. The peculiarity of the services is that the time of their provision and the time of receipt coincide.
Therefore, services are actions, as a result of which public needs are satisfied in certain types of activities. Services are also characterized by the presence of a certain final result, which is always non-property. In certain cases, this result is available (for example, cargo loading, passenger transportation).
Services can also be expressed in actions, the results of which are not always possible to detect (services of an educator, tutor). Therefore, a service is an action or activity performed to order that does not have a material result.
Having analyzed the above information, we come to the conclusion that the main difference between works and services is their result. Thus, as a result of the execution of the contract (execution of works), the customer receives a certain material result. As a result of the performance of the contract for the provision of services, the customer receives the same service, consuming it in the process of receiving it.