LEGAL PRESUMPTIONS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE CREDIBILITY OF ELECTRONIC EVIDENCE RELIABILITY IN CIVIL PROCESS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the research of the causes and conditions for the application of various constructions of procedural presumptions regarding the facts and circumstances associated with obtaining electronic evidence in civil procedure.At the very beginning it is ascertained that the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine does not contain any rule presuming the reliability of facts and circumstances related to electronic evidence. At the same time, evidentiary presumptions are among the most common guarantees of electronic evidence reliability in the world. On this basis, the theoretical legal research of the general conditions for formulating evidentiary presumptions and the procedure for their application with regard to electronic means of proof in the civil procedure of Ukraine seems to be relevant.Special attention in the article is paid to the foreign experience of legal regulation of evidentiary presumptions and the practice of their application in relation to various types of electronic evidence. In particular, the author concerns the presumption of reliability and the judicial notice doctrine.The article also analyzes various approaches of Ukrainian scientists to the use of presumptions regarding electronic evidence, as well as some provisions of the current legislation of Ukraine containing legal presumptions that can be applied to confirm or refute the reliability of digital data in civil procedure. Inter alia, the author draws attention to the presumption of authorship and the presumption of authenticity whereby an electronic document affixed with a qualified electronic signature is considered to be authentic. Their key advantages and disadvantages of these presumptions are identified.Based on the analysis, it is concluded that it is necessary to consolidate a greater amount of presumption in the civil procedure legislation of Ukraine regarding the reliability of electronic evidence in order to facilitate a better balance of interests among all the proving subjects. The general requirements for the formulation of the relevant presumptions are also defined. For the purposes of lawmaking, it is determined that the presumptions of electronic evidence reliability should be conditional. Their application should be determined by the ability to prove some other relevant facts and circumstances, supported by additional evidence. Furthermore, presumptions about the reliability of digital data based on evidence of the proper computer functioning should be rebuttable. Participants in the case should always have an ability to prove a fact contrary to the presumed one. The barrier to overcome such presumptions should not be too high.