Digitalization of forensic examinations as an object of administrative and legal regulation

Abstract

The article examines the digitalization of forensic examinations as an object of administrative-legal regulation in Ukraine. The relevance of the issue is substantiated in the context of the digital transformation of public administration and the heightened requirements for evidentiary reliability under martial law conditions. The conceptual and categorical framework of digitalization in the field of forensic expert activity is analyzed; in particular, the concepts of digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation are delineated, and the relationship between digital forensics, electronic evidence, and the expert’s electronic opinion is defined. The author proposes a definition of the digitalization of forensic examinations as a normatively and technologically mediated redesign of the procedures for assigning, conducting, and documenting forensic examinations. The regulatory-institutional framework of the digitalization of forensic expert activity is revealed, including the legislative definition of subjects, subordinate regulatory ordering of procedures for assigning and documenting examinations, the registry infrastructure of the State Register of Certified Forensic Experts, and administrative procedures for qualification through digital public service channels. The administrative-legal regimes of digital transformation of expert procedures are characterized: the regime of electronic documents with a qualified electronic signature and seal, the regime of electronic trust services, and the regime of data management as an object of public administration. The issues of trust standards, cyber resilience, and risk management under martial law conditions are elucidated, including international standards for handling digital evidence and the forensic process standards ISO 21043 and ISO/IEC 27037. Comparative benchmarks and European integration imperatives of digitalization are identified, notably the requirements of functional compatibility with the European trust service regime eIDAS, the personal data protection standard GDPR, artificial intelligence regulation, and cross-border access to electronic evidence. Proposals are formulated for building a unified administrative-legal model of ‘digital trust’ in the forensic expert activity system.