The draft federal law On Forensic Expert Examination Activities in the Russian Federation was drafted by the Ministry of Justice in execution of Clause 2 of the List of Presidential Instructions of February 3, 2012 and Presidential Instructions of December 6, 2012, issued after the examination of the Government report on fulfilling an instruction contained in Paragraph 10 of Sub-Clause D of Clause 2 of Presidential Executive Order No. 596 of May 7, 2012 On Long-Term State Economic Policy.

Currently, the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the Commercial Court Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and the Administrative Offences Code of the Russian Federation, as well as the federal law On State Forensic Expert Examination Activities in the Russian Federation, serve as a basis for regulating forensic expert examinations. A study of the application of the Law has revealed a number of legal conflicts, as well as technical and legal discrepancies.

Under the current legislation, forensic expert examinations are conducted by state forensic experts and other experts possessing specialist knowledge. The legislation contains no mechanism for assessing the extent (volume and quality) of such knowledge possessed by people not employed by state forensic expert examination agencies. The lack of legally formalised criteria for assessing the competence of these individuals, the authenticity of expert examination methods and their scientific substantiation create objective difficulties for law enforcers in making informed decisions. As a rule, this situation is generally resolved by organising re-examinations by state forensic expert examination agencies, which significantly prolongs the duration of court proceedings. Minimising the duration of proceedings is directly dependent on reducing the length needed to carry out forensic expert examinations and improving their quality.

In this connection, the draft law proposes setting out a legal framework and principles of forensic expert examinations in the Russian Federation, as well as the procedure for forensic expert examinations during the relevant court proceedings.

The draft law states that specialist agencies and expert divisions of federal institutions of state authority which are empowered to conduct forensic expert examinations shall have the status of state forensic expert examination agencies. Non-profit agencies specialising in forensic expert examinations and other basic activities shall have the status of non-state (independent) forensic expert examination agencies.

The document proposes that a forensic expert can be a state forensic expert or any other expert who meets the specific requirements for people to engage in forensic work. Included in the draft law are provisions specifying which people cannot be entrusted to conduct forensic expert examinations.

The document introduces professional requirements for the heads of forensic expert examination agencies (divisions).

The draft law defines the mechanisms for certifying the competence of forensic experts, which are mandatory for state forensic experts and voluntary for people not employed by state forensic expert examination agencies (divisions). At the same time, the receipt of certificates of competence by forensic experts is a mandatory condition for listing data on forensic experts in the State Register of Forensic Experts, subject to restrictions on disclosing information about state forensic experts. The document envisages that the procedure for certifying the competence of people possessing specialist knowledge, including the procedure for unscheduled certifications, the procedure for issuing, suspending, terminating and annulling competence certificates or refusing to issue them, as well as the relevant certification of competence form will be established by the Government of the Russian Federation.

The draft law introduces mechanisms for the validation of methodological materials and the certification of scientific methodological support for forensic expert examinations. The procedure for the validation and for the certification of scientific methodological support will be established by the Government of the Russian Federation.

The draft law defines mechanisms of organisational, scientific methodological and staffing support for the work of forensic expert examination agencies (divisions) and introduces provisions dealing with international cooperation in this area.

The provisions of the draft law do not apply to forensic medical and forensic psychiatric medical institutions (divisions), whose activities are to be governed by Federal Law No. 73-FZ of May 31, 2001 On State Forensic Examination Activities in the Russian Federation.

The draft law shall enter into force 10 days after its official publication, with the exception of Parts 3 and 4 of Article 10 and Articles 17 and 18, which shall enter into force on January 1, 2015.

The provisions of the draft law regarding the introduction of procedures for the validation of methodological materials, the certification of methodological support, the certification of competence for forensic experts, as well as the listing of data on individuals who possess specialist knowledge and who have received a certificate of competence in the State Register of Forensic Experts, will come into force on January 1, 2015.

These provisions are to come into force, taking into account the need to draft the appropriate regulatory legal act of the Government and to implement comprehensive organisational legal measures involving all parties to forensic expert examinations.

When approved, the document will create a new expert examination system meeting the requirements of current court proceedings, set out standard approaches towards the organisation of forensic expert examinations, quality-control standards, methodological support and expert training programmes, reduce the time needed to carry out forensic expert examinations and ensure state regulation of forensic expert examinations conducted by forensic experts independently of state forensic expert examination agencies.

The draft law was examined and approved at a Government meeting on June 27, 2013.