Issues of Criminalization of Acts in Relation to Personal Data in the Context of Draft Law № 502113-8

Relevance. The relevance of the study is dictated by the existing contradictions between the need for direct criminal protection of personal data and the problems of criminalization of relevant acts, which is reflected in the light of Draft law No. 502113-8 «On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation» submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation on 04.12.2023. The purpose. Resolution of these contradictions through a critical assessment of design structures for their compliance with social and legal needs in criminalizing illegal actions with personal data. The objectives. The study of this draft law, the determination of the quality of draft criminal law prohibitions (their constructive and differentiating features), the resolution of the identified problems of criminalization of acts. Methodology. When writing the work, the author relied on the universal dialectical method of cognition, logical methods (analysis, synthesis) were also used, in addition, documentary, formal-legal, dogmatic, systematic methods. Results. Draft law No. 502113-8, which proposes criminalization of illegal actions with personal data within the framework of Chapter 28 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation «Crimes in the field of computer information», has been subjected to critical reflection. The absence of grounds for defining the relevant acts as computer crimes has been proved. Other contradictions and shortcomings of the design structures have been identified. Conclusions. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that the specified draft law does not meet modern needs in the criminal law protection of personal data, contradicts the principle of formal certainty and doctrinal ideas about criminalization of acts, differentiation of responsibility, as well as technical and legal rules for the construction of criminal law norms. The author shares the conviction that it is necessary to establish criminal liability for illegal actions with respect to personal data in an independent norm, but believes that it should be placed in Chapter 19 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The author's concept of the criminal law prohibition of illegal actions with personal data is proposed.