Review

The article carries out a scientific analysis of problematic issues of the human right to privacy of communication in the course of secret investigations in the practice of the Security Service of Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to study problematic issues of guarantees of the human right to privacy of communication in the practice of the Security Service of Ukraine and their solution in the context of the standards of the European Court of Human Rights and the latest amendments to the current legislation and draft amendments and additions to it. It is emphasized that the right to privacy of communication and its guarantees are enshrined in a number of international legal acts (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), as well as in the Constitution of Ukraine, but neither international legal acts nor the Constitution Ukraine does not consider this right to be absolute and provides for the possibility of its limitation under certain conditions and in the manner determined by the Law. The standards of the ECtHR regarding the wiretapping of telephone messages, which the national law must comply with, are disclosed, namely: 1) contain a list of crimes, the commission of which may lead to wiretapping; 2) include factual grounds for suspecting a person of committing a crime: they must already be discovered by other means; 3) allow wiretapping only on the basis of a motivated written statement of a certain high-ranking official; 4) establish the need to obtain the sanction of a body or official who does not belong to the executive power, preferably a judge; 5) set limits on the duration of wiretapping: the period during which the wiretapping sanction is valid must be specified; 6) determine the rules relating to reports containing materials of intercepted messages; 7) provide for precautionary measures against the exchange of these materials between various state bodies; 8) determine the circumstances under which records can or must be destroyed; 9) determine what should be done with copies or transcribed materials if the accused person is acquitted. It is substantiated that the 3rd Art. 8 of the Law «On operational investigative activities», which establishes the procedure and grounds for audio and video control of a person, audio and video control of a place, surveillance of a person, removal of information from electronic communication networks, electronic information networks, seizure of correspondence, carrying out its inspection and extraction, establishing the location of the radio-electronic device does not fully meet the standards of the ECHR regarding the privacy of communications. It is proposed to amend the Law «On operational and investigative activities», to add Art. 8–1, in which to clearly define the list of operative and investigative measures, including the control of correspondence, the grounds and procedure for their restriction, as well as guarantees of citizens against the illegal restriction of their rights during the implementation of relevant operative and investigative measures, as well as bringing under Article. 615 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, Articles 30, 31, 32 of the Constitution of Ukraine.