Obtaining Information about Connections between Subscribers and/or Subscriber Devices

Review. The author addresses the issues of legal regulation of a new investigative activity introduced in 2010 into the new law of criminal procedure, namely obtaining information about the connections between subscribers and/or subscriber devices. Art. 1861 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation lists the kinds of information obtained which unduly restricts the cognitive capabilities of an investigative action. In view of the trend of increasing connection settings, registered by equipment operators, it would be useful to make provision in the specified regulation on obtaining any information about connections between telecommunication tools. The term "Subscriber" used in the Act is inaccurate, because the connections happen not between subscribers, but between the equipment employed The term "subscriber device" can not be applied to computers, functional purpose of which is not limited to transfer of messages. In view of the foregoing, it is proposed to change the name of the investigative action on "receiving information about telecommunication connections", clarify and consolidate the notion "means of telecommunication" directly in the Criminal Procedure Act and include identification modules (SIM-card) in the notion, because in terms of legislation on communication such devices cannot be cannot be referred to such devices. Connections include sessions during which voice and non-voice mail is transmitted or received, as well as ring tones, arrested by the base station even if the called subscriber's interaction with the device failed. Prior to the commencement of the investigative action it is necessary to obtain information about ID number of the telecommunication device. This information is demanded and obtained by sending investigator request without any court holding. There is currently no deadline for executing investigator requests, which complicates the process of designating investigative actions considerably. Therefore, the author proposes to establish the time limits for execution of the investigator request in the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, as well as the introduction of administrative liability for the failure or delay of such a request. Currently, it is unclear in the text of the Code whether it is possible in frames of the investigation to obtain information about the connections not only of the specific user's devices, but also of all that are serviced by the base station for a certain period. It is argued that it is possible to obtain such information In addition, the Act does not divide retrospective and prospective orders of obtaining information, which does not clarify whether the implemented 6-month period installed in the Art. 1861 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation can be applied for obtaining information about earlier connections The author substantiates that the specified term can be applied only for obtaining information in a prospective manner The article argues that the results of the investigation activity in terms of the types of evidence are not evidence, but other documents. As a result of research, the author proposes new wording of the rules of criminal procedure governing the investigative action in question

criminal procedure, preliminary investigations, investigations, investigators, investigator request, subscriber, connection of subscriber devices, evidence, exhibits, documents, secrecy of communication

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