COUNCIL OF EUROPE STANDARDS ON THE USE OF FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGIES IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS OR WHO IS THE EYE OF SAURON LOOKING AT

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to analyze the current approaches of the Council of Europe regarding the regulatory regulation of the use of facial recognition technology in criminal proceedings, taking into account the wide spread of this method of fighting crime. The methodology includes the analysis of the Council of Europe Instructions on facial recognition dated January 28, 2021 and the Recommendations of the Council of Europe dated November 18, 2022, the study of the experience of other countries, the assessment of the risks of implementing this technology, the available scientific and theoretical material, and the formulation of relevant conclusions and recommendations. The following methods of scientific knowledge were used during the research: terminological, logical-semantic, functional, systemic-structural, logical-normative. The results. The result of the study was the determination of the main principles of the implementation of the national facial recognition system, which is definitely extremely necessary and effective in the activities of law enforcement agencies and the defense sector. In order to ensure a balance between the observance of human rights and the security of society and the state, this system must be based on legality, transparency, temporal criteria (determining the time of image storage), prohibition of discrimination (tracking based on national, religious and other criteria), audit and ethics. Practical significance. The conducted analysis of modern international standards and recommendations can be useful in the development of draft laws on the introduction of facial recognition technologies (amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine regarding the granting of permission to deploy a facial recognition system in a certain place with a certain purpose and the adoption of a special law on regulating the activities of a special national body responsible for the functioning of this system) to prevent human rights violations. The lack of ECtHR practice on this issue (one application was submitted for consideration) requires careful legislative elaboration of the introduction of new technologies.

Keywords

• identification
• face recognition technology
• discrimination
• tracking
• surveillance