On the Issue of Crime Qualification under Art. 138.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Criminal-legal regulation of turnover of the special technical means for a surreptitious obtaining of information in modern terms is becoming more important. At the same time, this sphere of social relations needs a legislative improvement. The issue of assessing the crime subject remains open until now. The objective side of a crime is represented by incomplete set of alternative actions, besides there is no uniform approach to their interpretation. In particular, at the moment there is no consensus on the correlation between the concepts of «manufacturing» and «production» of special technical means for a surreptitious obtaining of information. The author assesses the existing criteria of classifying the technical equipment as a special technique for surreptitious obtaining of information, presents the approaches existing in the criminal legal doctrine to understand the term «production», and offers to improve the current legislation in the sphere of the special equipment turnover.