THE RATIO OF VOLUNTARY AND MANDATORY USE OF STANDARDS IN FORENSIC ACTIVITIES

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the legislation on standardization in the Russian Federation, the provisions of international and national standards to consider the categories of «voluntary» and «mandatory» application of standards in various aspects in relation to forensic activities. An important issue for the study is to determine the conditions for the transition of a voluntary standard to the status of mandatory for a specific accredited forensic expert organization, as well as the levels of obligation within the applicable international standard GOST ISO/IEC 17025-2019 «General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories». In the course of the study, the following conclusions were formulated. The mandatory application of standards is directly implemented through legislative approval. However, with the initial voluntary application, their provisions may become mandatory for a particular forensic laboratory, provided that it passes the accreditation procedure or in accordance with the terms of the contract with the forensic organization.