EVOLUTION AND PROSPECTS OF OPERATIVE-RESEARCH ACTIVITY IN UKRAINE

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state, historical development, and functional essence of operative-research activity (ORA) in Ukraine. It also offers a critical assessment of the inappropriateness of replacing ORA with the concept of criminal intelligence or radically merging it with the criminal procedure process. The primary objective of the study is to justify the necessity of a systemic renewal of existing legislation by adopting a new, comprehensive law that would ensure synergy between ORA and the criminal process, strengthen human rights protections, and enhance the competitiveness of the Ukrainian ORA model under modern conditions. The research methodology is based on a multifaceted approach, including historical-legal, comparative legal, systemic-structural, formal-legal, doctrinal, and functional methods. The study analyzes Ukrainian legislation, international standards, eight legislative drafts aimed at replacing the current Law «On ORA» and scientific literature, enabling a holistic assessment of the ORA’s current state, existing legal conflicts, and the practical efficiency of the current framework. The results reveal that the current Law of Ukraine «On operative-research activity» (1992) is outdated, having undergone nearly fifty amendments, which have fragmented its integrity and rendered it insufficient in addressing modern challenges, particularly cybercrime. The analysis highlights the functional equivalence between Ukraine’s ORA and, for example, Lithuania’s criminal intelligence, refuting the need for substitution based merely on terminological differences. The proposed criminal intelligence bills were found to be underdeveloped and potentially conflicting with Ukraine's Criminal Procedure Code and recently adopted intelligence and counterintelligence legislation. The article concludes that rather than adopting radical reforms or blindly copying foreign practices, Ukraine should preserve and gradually develop its ORA model, adapting it to current realities. The authors propose a structure for the new law encompassing general provisions, subjects, measures, confidential cooperation, inter-agency coordination, oversight and control, and final provisions. Future research should focus on identifying the optimal model for regulating ORA, incorporating national traditions and international experience.