Law and justice

The Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on business protection during criminal proceedings

By upadmin

Posted on 02.03.2025

The Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis a draft law on amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code to improve guarantees for the protection of business entities during criminal proceedings № 12439.

This bill, in particular, proposes to introduce norms regarding the validity period of a decision to seize property, the cancellation of the seizure of property, supplement the list of decisions of the investigating judge that can be appealed during the pre-trial investigation, and establish a clear deadline for the return of property after the cancellation of the seizure.

The bill also provides for limiting the period of seizure of funds and accounts to two months, with the possibility of extension only in exceptional cases; expanding the possibilities of appealing the seizure, which will allow businesses to effectively protect their rights; a clear deadline for returning property after the seizure is lifted - 30 days, which will make bureaucratic manipulations and delaying the process of returning assets impossible; the possibility of video recording during searches, which makes it impossible to plant evidence and other abuses; access to pre-trial investigation materials and collecting evidence through temporary access to documents, which strengthens the ability of businesses to defend themselves in court, etc.

The draft law makes the following changes to a number of articles of the CPC:

the legal status of the victim in criminal proceedings has been clarified, by granting him the right to receive written information about the essence of the suspicion and accusation, to collect evidence, and to immediately receive an extract from the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, a resolution on the initiation of a pre-trial investigation (amendments to Articles 56, 96 of the CPC);
the procedural procedure for recognizing a material object as material evidence has been specified, the deadlines for issuing the relevant resolution have been clarified (amendments to Article 98 of the CPC);
Annexes to the protocol are clearly defined, in particular, they may include a description of items and originals or copies of documents that were seized during temporary access to items and documents or a search (amendments to Article 105 of the CPC);
the method of recording the course and results of the search has been clarified by adding provisions according to which the right to unhindered recording of the course and results of the search using audio and video recording is granted to the defense attorney, the victim, his representative or legal representative by all available means (amendments to Article 107 of the CPC);
The general rules for applying measures to ensure criminal proceedings have been improved:
details the right of the investigating judge or court, when considering a motion to apply appropriate measures to secure criminal proceedings at the request of the parties to the criminal proceedings or on its own initiative, to interrogate the suspect, accused, witness, victim, expert or examine any items or documents that are important for resolving the motion;
It is assumed that it is impossible to reconsider such a request in the event of its refusal without new circumstances and evidence that were not considered by the investigating judge or court;
It is determined that in the event of failure to appear at a court hearing without good reason of an investigator, inquirer, or prosecutor who filed a motion to apply a measure to secure criminal proceedings and who were duly notified of the date, time, and place of the hearing, the investigating judge or court shall issue a ruling to leave such a motion without consideration (amendments to Article 132 of the CPC);
the list of information that must be included in a request for temporary access to things and documents has been expanded, and the procedure for considering such a request has been specified (amendments to Article 160 of the CPC);
The procedure for executing the ruling of the investigating judge or court on temporary access to things and documents is detailed, which establishes that based on the results of access to things and documents, the relevant participant in the criminal proceedings draws up a protocol, to which a description of the seized copies of documents is attached, and the owner remains with a copy of the protocol and description of the documents that were seized in execution of the ruling (amendments to Article 165 of the CPC);
the grounds for terminating the temporary seizure of property and returning temporarily seized property have been clarified (amendments to Article 169 of the Criminal Procedure Code);
the list of documents that must be attached to the petition for the seizure of property has been supplemented, in particular documents confirming the provision/sending of a copy of the petition for the seizure of property to the suspect, accused, other owner or possessor of property or his defense attorney, legal representative, representative, civil plaintiff (amendments to Article 171 of the CPC);
It has been established that the failure of an investigator, inquirer, or prosecutor to appear at a court hearing without good reason is grounds for refusing to grant a motion to seize property, and the failure of other persons to appear at a court hearing does not prevent its consideration (amendments to Article 172 of the CPC);
It is stipulated that the seizure of property is carried out on the basis of a decision of an investigating judge or a court for a period of no more than two months. The term of seizure of property at the stage of pre-trial investigation may be extended within the term of the pre-trial investigation, and at the stage of trial - within the term of the trial (amendments to Articles 174 and 315 of the CPC);
It is determined that the investigator, inquirer, prosecutor shall immediately, but no later than 24 hours after submitting an application, a report on a committed criminal offense, which contains sufficient data on the circumstances that may indicate the commission of a criminal offense, or after independently identifying from any source circumstances that may indicate the commission of a criminal offense, enter the relevant information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, begin the investigation and provide it to the applicant within 24 hours from the moment of entering such information (amendments to Article 214 of the CPC);
the right of the suspect, his defense counsel, or a representative of the legal entity against which the proceedings are being conducted, if circumstances are discovered during the pre-trial investigation that confirm a violation of the subject matter of a criminal offense, to submit a petition to change the subject matter of the investigation to a higher-level prosecutor is established (amendments to Article 216 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine); — the procedure for familiarizing yourself with the materials of the pre-trial investigation before its completion is detailed (amendments to Article 221 of the Code of Criminal Procedure);
the mandatory participation of specialists in conducting a search, during which it is planned to search for electronic information systems, computer systems or their parts, and mobile terminals (amendments to Article 236 of the CPC);
the provisions on the consequences of the failure of the parties to criminal proceedings to appear at the court session to participate in the consideration by the investigating judge of the motion to conduct an expert examination have been supplemented (amendments to Article 244 of the CPC);
The procedure for considering a petition for permission to conduct a NSRD is detailed: the participation of the person who filed the petition is mandatory; a petition filed without complying with legal requirements or in violation of the rules of jurisdiction is returned to the person who filed it; in the event of failure to appear at the court session of an investigator or prosecutor who has been duly notified of the consideration of the petition without good reason, or failure to notify him of the reasons for his non-appearance, the investigating judge shall issue a ruling to leave the petition without consideration (amendments to Article 248 of the CPC);
the list of decisions that can be appealed during a pre-trial investigation has been supplemented, in particular the decision of an investigator, inquirer, or prosecutor to refuse to grant a request for access to the materials of a pre-trial investigation pursuant to Article 221 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (amendments to Article 303 of the Criminal Procedure Code);
the list of decisions of the investigating judge that may be appealed during the pre-trial investigation has been supplemented, in particular decisions on the refusal to cancel the seizure of property, refusal to involve an expert at the request of the defense party, granting a request to establish a deadline for familiarizing yourself with the materials, and refusal to grant a request (amendments to Article 309 of the CPC);
A new article 372-1 has been added regarding a separate ruling of an investigating judge or court, which is issued in the event of a violation of procedural duties or their improper fulfillment by participants in criminal proceedings.