GENESIS OF TEMPORARY ACCESS TO ITEMS AND DOCUMENTS

Abstract

The author has emphasized on a novelty for the criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine of such a measure to ensure criminal proceedings, as temporary access to items and documents. It has been stressed that temporal access to items and documents combines seizure, review, and copying of documents. The author has singled out the seizure as the main procedural action under the Criminal and Procedural Code of Ukraine of 1960, which is transformed into the current Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine into the temporary access to items and documents.

The author has analyzed the provisions of the laws on the judiciary in cases on crimes and misdemeanors of 1857, the Statute of the Criminal Procedure of 1864, the Criminal and Procedural Code of Ukrainian SSR of 1922 and 1927, the Criminal and Procedural Code of Ukraine of 1960, which regulated the procedure of applying the seizure.

The author has provided scientific definition of the seizure that was formed during the times of the Criminal and Procedural Code of Ukraine of 1960. The author has singled out the initial general rule for conducting the seizure by the decree of an investigator, that is, the person who conducted the pre-trial investigation. It has been determined that from 2001 to 2011 the judicial control over the conduction of the seizure of items and documents was extended to the following types of documents and items: material carriers of secret information; documents of executive proceedings; documents containing bank secrecy; originals of primary financial and economic documents; originals of accounting documents; correspondence; information extracted from communication channels. Besides, judicial control was imposed on using the forced seizure from the housing or other property of a person, that is, on the basis of the location of the premises, where there were any items and documents that were subject to the seizure.

The emphasis has been paid on the positive rules of applying the seizure, including the balance between judicial control regarding the seizure of the types of items and documents determined by the legislation and the procedural independence of an investigator while seizing all other items and documents.

The author has offered the periodization of the process of forming the temporary access to items and documents. Some propositions have been made to improve the provisions of the current Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine, which regulate the use of the temporary access to items and documents.