Prospects for countering customs evasion in the context of the humanization of criminal law

Introduction. The article is devoted to the analysis of changes introduced in 2024 to the definition of large and especially large size as a criminogenic feature in Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the conditions of permanent humanisation of criminal legislation. Methods. The methods of cognitive action, methods-operations, empirical methods and forecasting method were used during the research. Results. The law-making process, which resulted in amendments to Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in terms of increasing large and especially large damage as a criminogenic feature and a new note defining other sizes for certain types of goods, is analysed. The opinions of representatives of the business community, scientists, law enforcement officers, analytical and statistical information presented in the article made it possible to come to a conclusion and insufficiency of increasing the criminally forming large and especially large size of evasion of mandatory public payments in foreign economic activity. A critical assessment of the new note, levelling the principle of certainty of the criminal law, is given. The authors’ position on rationality of synchronisation of large and especially large sizes in customs and tax crimes is given.