Legal Aspects of Using Electronic Documents as Evidence in Civil Proceedings

The purpose of the study is to determine the procedural and legal features of the use of electronic documents in civil cases. To do this, the author examined them in the structure of the right to present evidence. This goal predetermines the use of scientific knowledge methods: formal-logical, textual and comparative methods. The institutional methodological approach to the study of digitalization of the process of proof in civil proceedings is substantiated by the development of legislative material. The author took into account the actually established legal relations on the use of electronic documents as written evidence and as a fact that has legal significance in civil circulation. Conclusions: the author states the fragmentation in the legal regulation of relations on the use of electronic documents in civil proceedings. This reveals the problem of broad judicial discretion caused by abstract regulatory formulations. Therefore, it is necessary to create transparent legal conditions for the presentation of electronic documents in the structure of the procedural right to evidence. Most of the documents used by participants in civil proceedings are not subject to legal requirements for their compilation and execution. Filling this gap in civil procedural law occurs with the help of technical standards. They allow judges and participants in civil proceedings to verify electronic documents used in evidence.