An Integrated Approach to the Regulation of the Use of Special Knowledge in the Draft Procedural Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses: To Be or not to Be?

Abstract

Updating the legislation on administrative offenses is long overdue, since the current Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which includes both the material part and procedural provisions, does not in many ways correspond to practice. The Russian Ministry of Justice proposed for discussion two draft federal laws: the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Procedural Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses. Evaluating this legislative initiative as a whole positively, a number of comments can be made about the provisions of the draft Code of Procedure of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses regulating the use of special knowledge. The paper analyzes the provisions of the Procedural Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses from the point of view of the foundations of forensic expertology as a science that studies the patterns of development and functioning of various forms of using special knowledge. In the presented project, the use of incorrect terminology is traced, some provisions “by a carbon copy” are transferred from other codes, but at the same time the problems of their law enforcement in the corresponding processes are not taken into account. In fact, the authors of the draft law apply the regulation of the participation of a specialist and the appointment and production of forensic examination without taking into account developments in the field of forensic expertology, which in itself raises questions and entails the adoption of conflict-of-law provisions.