Acceso usuarios
Anatolii Puhach, Oleksandr M. Shevchuk, Oleh Zrazhevskyy, Alexander Rusnak, Viktor Trepak
The growing practical use of OSINT in criminal proceedings, together with fragmented regulation and uneven evidentiary treatment in Ukraine and the EU, called for a clearer legal analysis. This study examined under which conditions OSINT-derived material may be used in criminal proceedings and which legal requirements govern its collection, authenticity, documentation, and judicial assessment. The method combined doctrinal analysis of legislation and case law from Ukraine and EU legal materials, with the United Kingdom and the United States used as comparative reference points because their courts and legal instruments more expressly addressed digital evidence and publicly available online material. The analysis showed that European approaches relied on clearer rules on legality, proportionality, authenticity, and documentation, whereas Ukrainian law treated OSINT mainly through general rules on electronic evidence. On that basis, the article formulated a legal test centered on lawful collection, source identification, preservation of integrity, procedural recording, and judicial review. The novelty of the study lies in restating OSINT issues in conventional evidentiary terms and clarifying where Ukrainian law converges with, and differs from, European approaches. Further research should test these criteria in actual criminal cases.
