December 7 come into force changes to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, mainly aimed at improving the procedures for searches.

Among the key changes:

- mandatory video recording of the search was introduced, which should reduce the number of violations by the security officials;

- the lawyers of persons who are searched, given the right to participate in a search at any stage of it, must solve the massive problem of preventing lawyers;

- mandatory technical fixation was introduced when examining the investigators' requests for a search permit, and hence the investigators will not be able to grant the search warrant a "conveyor" and approach the evaluation of applications superficially.

We are talking about audio recording, since the beginning of 2019 - recording video of the court sessions;

- evidence found during the search, to which the person's lawyer was admitted, without evidentiary force, increases the need for admission of the lawyer;

- the search participants acquire a separate procedural status, which gives them additional rights.

We hope that these changes will fully work in practice and will allow lawyers to more effectively protect the rights of their clients.