The article summarizes and analyzes the basic standards of local self-government, reflected in international normative legal acts, including those developed within the framework of the CIS, which are framework in relation to Russian national standards. The theoretical problem of the definition of «the right to local self-government» is updated, the structure and features of related rights are analyzed. The main sources were international documents of the United Nations Organization, Union of independent states, as well as reports and strategic declarations of international public associations that carry out consultative and analytical work with local self-government systems around the world. The authors classify international sources of law that set the standards for local self-government, dividing them into three groups. It is concluded that, in general, when the aforementioned standards are reflected in the national normative material, they are most fully contained in the international framework normative acts of the Union of independent states. The authors note, along with the role of the UN Advisory Committee on Local Self-Government Issues, the special importance of international non-governmental associations in the formation of standards of local self-government (United Cities and Local Governments, UCLG). The sum of international standards in the area under consideration consists in declarative acts of strategic development of the local self-government system.