Social and Legal Studios

Abstract

The current Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine provides only the general procedure for conducting investigative or other procedural actions. The legislator has not defined special norms concerning the collection of information that contains professional secret. However, secret information is provided by law with special legal protection, and therefore there is a need to determine a special procedure for obtaining it within criminal proceedings to provide additional guarantees for its keeping in secret and protection against procedural abusing. It is substantiated the need to supplement the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine with provisions foreseeing that the search of premises where lawyers, doctors, notaries, journalists practice, as well as premises where these persons may keep the information that is a professional secret, should be carried out within a special procedure. It is suggested: to determine that the prosecutor is a special subject of such a search, to establish that the search is carried out with the participation of an authorized representative responsible for professional practice, giving him the right to appeal against the seizure of information that contains professional secret. It is substantiated the necessity of granting the right to file objections in the process of the court ruling on temporary access to items and documents execution, which will be immediately submitted to the investigating judge, aiming to ensure a balance between the interests of the state in effective investigating of the crime and private interests in saving the professional secret. The necessity to give the prosecution the right to seize other documents, in addition to those specified in the court ruling of the investigating judge, within the search, which is carried out under Article 166 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, is proved

Keywords: means of proving, professional secret, search, temporary access to items and documents

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