Combating smuggling by means of criminal law of Ukraine

Abstract

The article analyzes the recriminalization of goods smuggling from July 1, 2024. At the same time, the attention is focused on the social conditionality of setting a punishment for smuggling. It is noted that the purpose of this legal scientific study is to put forward arguments for the establishment of punishment for goods smuggling and to determine the role of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine in countering smuggling activity. The legal liability for smuggling of various items in the draft of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is studied. It is concluded that the imposition of punishment for the smuggling of various criminal items must meet the criteria of criminalization of acts established in the criminal law doctrine, the principles of expediency, justice and social conditioning. Thus, the appearance of a criminal law standard in the Criminal Code of Ukraine that does not meet the requirements of social conditioning, the main of which are considered to be the nature and degree of social danger of torts, is meaningless, since such a standard will be recognized as potentially “dead” for practice. The social assessment of an act as a criminal offense is based on its public danger, legally recorded in the law on amendments to the Criminal Code, which is included in the current Criminal Code of Ukraine, adopted in the prescribed manner. At the same time, the ability of the authorized bodies to adequately respond to the number of socially dangerous torts that are committed in objective reality should be taken into account. The latter is explained by the principle of reasonable criminalization, that is, the establishment of priorities in the application of the criminal-legal toolkit of criminal-legal protection only in those situations when the normal functioning of social relations cannot be protected by means of other branches of law.