Now interests of realization of a system territorial policy are refl ected in the current legislation but in a small degree. With the majority of the territorial programs having an obvious regional orientation, the current legislation is now more accurately oriented on the decision of priority, strategic problems of territorial management. Th e article off ers some guide lines to modernize the legal base in the fi eld of the target programming of territorial development, which should be considered as ones of the obligatory preconditions for creating an effective mechanism of the state regional policy.