The author analyzes the list of subjects of public control, reviews the concepts of participation in public control and implementation of public control, and describes their legal capacity and scope. The analysis of the nature of public control subjects helps the author to defi ne their various classifi cations. He analyses the modern system of public control, notes insuffi cient development of the legal mechanism and suggests the ways of regulation of this legal phenomenon. The public control institute on constituent entities legal levels is considered in the frame of this article in the comparative perspective. The author analyzes the status of public councils, identifi es gaps that need to be addressed to improve the effi ciency of public councils in the implementation of public control in the Russian Federation. He describes a number of instruments that have appeared in Russia recently and that allow to unveil moods and expectations of the society and to identify the issues that require immediate attention of the state. The author analyses the problems of implementation of the provisions contained in the fi nal documents that announce the public initiative, challenge regulatory acts as the result of public control. On the basis of regulatory acts of the Russian Federation and regulatory acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation the Author concludes that there are contradictions between declared and actual possibilities of informing public authorities about the results of public control.