ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS AS A MEANS OF EVIDENCE: ESSENCE AND LEGAL REGULATION

Abstract

In the article a relatively new type of evidence
of procedural law is reviewed - electronic evidence
that has been introduced in the lawsuit due to the
whole automation of all spheres of society's life as a
result of the appearance and wide use of the latest
information technologies. Such means of evidence in
the trial as an electronic document has been
subjected to a more detailed study and analysis.
The Ukrainian legislator secured and, to a
certain extent, regulated the electronic document as
a means of evidence in the procedural codes (the
Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine, the Commercial
Procedural Code of Ukraine, the Code of
Administrative Procedure of Ukraine and the
Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine). The analysis
of legal regulation of electronic documents as means
of evidence in the lawsuit, validity of the mechanisms
of identification and authentication presented to them
have been carried out. It is established that at
present there is a certain imbalance in the Ukrainian
legislation and there is no single approach to the
membership of electronic documents to a unified
means of evidence, and also the lack of unified
requirements for electronic documents as evidence in
the court process, in particular regarding their
identification.
The article also focused on the analysis of foreign and international experience regarding the legal regulation of electronic documents as evidence in the trial.
On the basis of the investigated material (national, foreign and international experience of legal regulation of electronic documents as means of evidence), appropriate generalizations were made to improve the legal regulation of electronic documents - means of evidence of procedural law.
Keywords: electronic evidence, means of evidence, electronic document, electronic digital signature, court proceedings.