Law on Electronic Copies of Criminal Case Materials Adopted
The State Duma has passed a law establishing the procedure for using electronic procedural materials in criminal cases. Document No. 312970-8, “On Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (on the use of electronic documents during the pre-trial proceedings in a criminal case),” was submitted to the State Duma in March of this year. The amendments were authored by a group of parliamentarians, including Anatoly Artamonov, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Budget and Financial Markets, and Daniil Bessarabov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation.
The amendments to Article 474.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation provide that certain procedural documents, which do not contain information protected by federal law, may be submitted to the prosecutor’s office, investigation, and inquiry bodies in the form of electronic documents within the timeframes established by law, provided there is technical capability. Such materials include motions, statements, complaints, submissions, and demands.
The applicant must sign the document with an enhanced qualified electronic signature (UKEP) and send it via the Unified Public Services Portal, the information system of courts of general jurisdiction, or the electronic document management system for participants in criminal proceedings.
It is also stipulated that procedural documents (including rulings, indictments, indictment acts, and indictment orders) during pre-trial proceedings may be prepared in electronic form and signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature.
Article 222 of the Criminal Procedure Code was also amended. Now, upon request or with the consent of the accused, defense attorney, or victim, and if technically possible, they may be provided with a copy of the indictment “with attachments that do not contain information constituting state or other secrets protected by federal law, affecting state security, the rights and legitimate interests of minors, or information about crimes against sexual integrity or sexual freedom of the individual.”
These materials must be prepared as electronic documents signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature.
“If the accused is in custody, these documents are handed to them by the administration of the place of detention, on a technical device for reading e-books provided by the preliminary investigation body, which does not have audio or video recording, video playback, or Internet access functions,” the amendment states.
Court decisions are also being converted to electronic form. Judges will sign them with a qualified electronic signature, but an additional paper copy of the act will still need to be produced.
According to the authors of the amendments, this innovation will simplify the exchange of documents between participants in criminal proceedings and reduce procedural costs for the parties, especially in cases involving multiple episodes. At the same time, the implementation of the law will not require additional budget allocations, as electronic document management in criminal cases will only be used when technically feasible.