Administrative and legal regulations and standards for the use of individual armor protection

The article examines the issues of administrative and legal norms and standards for the use of personal body armor. The study explores the history of the development and evolution of ballistic protection equipment such as bulletproof vests and helmets. Body armor protects a person’s torso, shoulders, neck and groin from bullets and shrapnel. The helmet protects the head from falls, blows, blast waves, small shrapnel, pistol bullets, and small arms bullets. In addition, personal protective equipment includes bulletproof shields, impact shields, arm and leg protection kits, ballistic (tactical) glasses with ballistic safety standards. It has been established that today there are many types of vests with different characteristics that affect their usage, such as size, type, purpose, and material. The main indicator is the protection class, which determines the threats the vest can protect against. The class is defined by protective properties against various small arms ammunition. National and international standards for personal protective equipment are analyzed. Ukrainian national standards for personal body armor are comparable to international standards (modified according to the standards of the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom). According to the current Ukrainian standard DSTU 8782:2018, body armor is classified into three types by structural design: Type A – soft (flexible); Type B – semi-rigid; and Type C – rigid body armor with protective structures based on various protective elements, and there are six protection classes. The study examines the administrative and legal norms for the use of personal body armor by the National Police of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, and the Military Law Enforcement Service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It concludes that administrative and legal norms for the use of such equipment are established by regulatory documents of the agencies vested with the relevant powers, which primarily belong to Ukraine’s security and defense sector.