Forensic examination is one of the sources of evidence in any legal proceedings, as well as during enforcement proceedings. The procedure for appointing a forensic expert is clearly defined in the relevant procedural codes. The initiator of the appointment of a forensic examination can be an investigator, a judge (court), a party to the proceedings or a participant in the case and an executor. In addition to the procedural legislation and the Law of Ukraine “On Executive Proceedings”, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice have developed sectoral regulatory documents, namely: Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of 07.17.2017 No. 591 “On Approval of the Instructions on the Organization of Conducting and Registration of Expert Proceedings in Units of the Expert Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine” and the Order of the Ministry of Justice dated 08.10.1998 No. 53/5 “On the approval of the Instructions on the appointment and conduct of forensic examinations and expert studies and Scientific and methodological recommendations on the preparation and appointment of forensic examinations and expert studies”, in which the recommendations on the preparation of materials for the appointment and conduct of a forensic examination, a list of questions that must be put before the expert and the specifics of solving other issues related to a forensic examination are laid out.

In the event of the need to appoint a forensic expert, it is necessary to carefully familiarize yourself with the order of its appointment set out in the relevant procedural code and orders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Justice, properly prepare a procedural document on the appointment of a forensic expert, research objects or materials that will be provided to the expert, formulate questions to which the expert will have to provide a full and comprehensive answer, perform other preparatory measures and transfer the generated materials to the forensic expert institution.

At the same time, in order to obtain high-quality and complete conclusions based on the results of forensic examinations, citizens are recommended to seek help regarding their appointment from qualified lawyers who have relevant knowledge and practical experience in this area of advocacy. And if possible, for consultation on the appointment of a forensic examination, contact the specialists of forensic institutions directly.

It should be noted that forensic examinations assigned to forensic institutions are performed in the order of their receipt, according to the existing methods of conducting forensic examinations in a certain expert specialty, if possible in a short period of time, which, as a rule, does not exceed 90 working days. But these deadlines can be increased or decreased, taking into account the workload of the forensic expert, that is, the number of forensic examinations that are being performed by the forensic expert, the complexity of the forensic examination (number of research objects) and the specifics of the research object.

The publication was prepared within the framework of the Project “Increasing awareness among self-governing municipalities and citizens on recording the destruction caused by war”, which is implemented by the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils with the support of the “Phoenix” Project, which is implemented by the Eastern Europe Fund at the expense of the European Union.