10:09 Aug 20, 2011 

гражданско-правовой договор - is an independent contractor agreement (in essence it is an agreement for the supply of services rather than "labour" as such and is regulated by civil law - the primary source of which is the Civil Code of the Russian Federation- in this instance the laws and regulations covering employment relations, such as leave, social security insurance, etc. will not be applicable as a person "hired" on the basis of such contract will not qualify as an "employee")
In Russian law there is a fairly clear distinction between different branches of law and each branch has a Code "on top of it".
e.g. Civil law - Civil code
Civil Procedure - Civil Procedural code
Family Law - Family Code
Employment/Labour Law - Employment/Labour Code
Criminal Law - Criminal Code
There is a strict hierarchy of so called "normative acts". Constitution --> Federal Constitutional Laws --> Codes -->Federal Laws -->Presidential Decrees, etc

01:43 Aug 20, 2011 

The difference you are referring to is what in this country is covered by the dichotomy of employment contract/agreement vs. independent contractor agreement. As a matter of fact, this is quite an issue in the post-Soviet countries as well - at least as much as it is in the US, because who really wants to pay FICA taxes? If the US is your target audience, this is what I would suggest you use. Either way, both types of these agreements, like many others between individuals and entities, are governed by civil law. Mind the usage here, since English-speaking lawyers routinely prefer the term civil law rather than "Civil legislation". It's really nothing more than the matter of established usage. Good luck with your translation and sorry for being such a grump.

23:30 Aug 19, 2011 

No offense taken. The problem is that I'm doing a series of translations that draw a distinction between the the rights of workers who have a written трудовой договор and those who have just a гражданско-правовой договор (mostly unskilled workers). If I say just "civil legislation" in English both of those relationships are actually a matter of "civil legislation" (because we draw the civil-criminal distinction) and the distinction is lost. Maybe most people would not think it through that way, but if I saw a sentence that said "Retainer agreements form the basis of civil relationships that are governed by civil legislation, largely the Civil Code of the Russian Federation" I would wonder whether the other type of agreement was covered by the opposite of civil, i.e. criminal legislation.

23:02 Aug 19, 2011 

This is a basic term for anyone doing legal. A "retainer services contract" is yet another construct you will hardly ever see. In the event of legal services they are called retainer agreements, but not all "гражданско-правовой договор" are for services, let alone legal services. What you probably want to say here is contracts or agreements under civil law, even though in real English usage simply contract or agreement would suffice.