The study aims to show the scope and limits of administrative anti-corruption regulations, to detect the causes and factors leading to corruption in the social sphere and to identify the possibility of reinforcing administrative anti-corruption means, including in accordance with international standards. A dialectic approach to the examination of social phenomena made it possible to analyze the above issue in historical perspective and the comparative analysis was used to compare Russian anti-corruption legislature with international legal instruments and the anti-corruption laws in force in selected countries. The study defined administrative enforcement as a means of counteracting corruption in the social sphere, determined various administrative procedures adopted in anti-corruption mechanisms and highlighted a discrepancy between Russian anti-corruption legislature and international laws. For the first time in research on administrative law, the study focused on the adoption of administrative anti-corruption regulations in the social sphere in accordance with international legal standards.