183 (“Illegal receipt and disclosure of information constituting commercial, tax or banking secrets”)

Illegal receipt and disclosure of information constituting banking, tax or commercial secrets is not a very common crime. Thus, in 2022, only 22 people were convicted under Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation , in the first half of 2019 - 23 people (according to the Judicial Department under the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation ). The crime in question appeared in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in 1996: the previous criminal legislation, for obvious reasons, did not contain a similar article.

Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes two types of crimes:

1. Collection of information constituting banking, commercial or tax secrets (Part 1 of Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
2. Illegal distribution or use of information constituting a banking, commercial or tax secret by an entity to whom it was entrusted or became known through work or service (Part 2 of Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

In the first case, the subject of the crime is a general person - a person who has reached the age of 16 years. In the second case, a special subject is a person to whom the secret was entrusted or became known through work or service (for example, these could be bank employees, cellular operators, government officials, etc.). Noteworthy is the construction of the objective side of the crime provided for in Part 1 of Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: the act is committed through the theft of documents, through threats, bribery and other illegal actions. Both crimes are considered completed at the moment the described actions are committed.

Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated October 16, 2009 No. 19

In connection with the questions arising from the courts in cases of abuse of official powers and exceeding official powers, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, guided by Article 126 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, decides:

1. Draw the attention of the courts to the focus of criminal liability for crimes against the interests of the public service to ensure the protection of citizens from corruption and other socially dangerous acts committed by officials. Persons who abuse official powers or exceed their official powers encroach on the activities of state bodies, local government bodies, state and municipal institutions, state corporations, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops and military formations of the Russian Federation, regulated by regulatory legal acts, resulting in significant the rights and legitimate interests of citizens or organizations or the interests of society and the state protected by law are violated.

2. When considering criminal cases of abuse of power (Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and abuse of official powers (Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the courts must establish whether the defendant is the subject of these crimes - an official. In this case, one should proceed from the fact that in accordance with paragraph 1 of the notes to Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, officials are recognized as persons who permanently, temporarily or by special authority exercise the functions of a representative of government or perform organizational, administrative, economic functions in state bodies, local bodies self-government, state and municipal institutions, state corporations, as well as in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops and military formations of the Russian Federation.

3. Acting as a representative of government should include persons vested with the rights and responsibilities to exercise the functions of legislative, executive or judicial authorities, as well as, based on the content of the note to Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, other persons of law enforcement or regulatory authorities vested in the law. order of administrative powers in relation to persons who are not officially dependent on them, or the right to make decisions binding on citizens, organizations, institutions, regardless of their departmental affiliation and forms of ownership.

4. Organizational and administrative functions should be understood as the powers of an official that are associated with the management of the labor collective of a state body, state or municipal institution (its structural unit) or individual employees subordinate to them, with the formation of personnel and the determination of the labor functions of employees, with the organization of the procedure for serving, the application of incentives or rewards, the imposition of disciplinary sanctions, etc.

Organizational and administrative functions include the powers of persons to make decisions that have legal significance and entail certain legal consequences (for example, to issue a certificate of temporary disability by a medical worker, to establish by an employee of a medical and social examination institution that a citizen has a disability, to take exams and give grades by a member state examination (certification) commission).

5. The authority of an official to manage and dispose of property and (or) funds on the balance sheet and (or) bank accounts of organizations, institutions, military units and subdivisions, as well as to perform other actions (for example , on making decisions on the calculation of wages, bonuses, monitoring the movement of material assets, determining the procedure for their storage, accounting and control over their expenditure).

6. Exercising the functions of an official under special authority means that a person exercises the functions of a representative of government, performs organizational, administrative or administrative functions assigned to him by law, other regulatory legal act, order or instruction of a superior official or an authorized body or official (for example, the functions of a juror). The functions of an official under special authority can be performed for a certain time or once, and can also be combined with the main job.

When performing the functions of an official temporarily or when performing them under a special authority, a person can be recognized as an official only during the period of performance of the functions assigned to him.

If a person is appointed to a position in violation of the requirements or restrictions established by law or other regulatory legal acts, a candidate for this position (for example, in the absence of a diploma of higher professional education, the required work experience, with a criminal record, etc.), out of selfish or other personal interest, used official powers contrary to the interests of the service or committed actions that clearly went beyond the scope of his powers, resulting in a significant violation of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens or organizations or legally protected interests of society or the state, then such actions should be qualified accordingly as abuse of official power authority or as an abuse of power.

7. In the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops, military (special) formations and bodies performing functions to ensure the defense and security of the state, officials who permanently, temporarily or by special authority perform organizational, administrative and (or) administrative and economic functions , may be superiors by official position and (or) military rank.

Chiefs by official position are persons to whom military personnel are subordinate in service. These should include:

persons holding relevant military positions according to the state (for example, commander of a squad, company, head of the regiment's clothing service);

persons temporarily performing duties in the relevant military position, as well as temporarily performing the functions of an official under special authority.

Civilian personnel are superiors to subordinate military personnel in accordance with their regular positions.

Superiors by military rank are defined in Article 36 of the Internal Service Charter of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (in particular, sergeants and foremen are superiors by military rank for soldiers and sailors of only one military unit with them).

8. The subject of the crimes provided for in part of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and part of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is a person performing the functions of a representative of the government, performing organizational and administrative and/or administrative functions in a state body, local government body, state and municipal institution , a state corporation, as well as in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops and military formations of the Russian Federation, and at the same time not holding a public position in the specified bodies of the Russian Federation or a public position of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

9. When deciding the issue of the subject of a crime provided for by part of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or part of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, courts should proceed from paragraphs 2 and 3 of the notes to Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, according to which persons holding public positions in the Russian Federation are understood to be persons holding public positions established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws and federal laws for the direct execution of the powers of federal government bodies (paragraph 2 of the notes), and under persons holding public positions of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation - persons occupying positions established by constitutions or charters constituent entities of the Russian Federation for the direct execution of powers of state bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation (clause 3 of the notes). The consolidated list of government positions in the Russian Federation was approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of January 11, 1995 No. 32 (as amended on December 1, 2008).

10. Along with a person holding a public office of the Russian Federation or a public office of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the subject of liability under Part 2 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Part 2 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is the head of a local government body, which should be understood only as the head of a municipal entity - higher an official of a municipal entity, endowed by the charter of the municipal entity with its own powers to resolve issues of local importance (Article 36 of the Federal Law of October 6, 2003 No. 131-FZ “On the general principles of the organization of local self-government in the Russian Federation”).

11. Courts should distinguish the criminal actions of officials from the actions of other persons performing managerial functions in a commercial or other organization, whose liability for abuse of their powers is established by Article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The subjects of this crime are persons performing managerial functions in a commercial or other organization, the main purpose of which is to make a profit, as well as in a non-profit organization that is not a state body, local government body, state or municipal institution, or state corporation.

Persons performing management functions in a commercial or other organization include persons performing the functions of a sole executive body, member of the board of directors or other collegial executive body, as well as persons permanently, temporarily or by special authority performing organizational, administrative or administrative functions. in these organizations (for example, director, general director, board member of a joint-stock company, chairman of a production or consumer cooperative, head of a public association, religious organization).

In cases where these persons use their powers contrary to the legitimate interests of a commercial or other organization and in order to obtain benefits and advantages for themselves or other persons or to cause harm to other persons, they are subject to liability under Article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation if this act entailed causing a significant harm to the rights and legitimate interests of citizens or organizations or legally protected interests of society and the state.

12. If, as a result of abuse of power by a person performing managerial functions in a commercial or other organization, harm is caused to the interests of an exclusively commercial or other organization that is not a state or municipal enterprise, criminal prosecution is carried out at the request of the head of this organization or with his consent (Article 23 of the Code of Criminal Procedure RF). In case of harm to the interests of other organizations (for example, a non-profit organization, state or municipal enterprise), as well as the interests of citizens, society or the state, criminal prosecution for abuse of power in a commercial or other organization is carried out on a general basis (paragraph 3 of the notes to Article 201 of the Criminal Code RF).

When, as a result of abuse of power by the head of a commercial or other organization, harm is caused exclusively to this organization, criminal prosecution of the head is carried out upon the application or with the consent of the management body of the organization, whose competence includes the election or appointment of the head, as well as with the consent of a member of the management body of the organization or persons having the right to make decisions determining the activities of a legal entity.

13. In cases where an act containing signs of abuse of official powers (Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) or excess of official powers (Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is committed by an official to eliminate a danger that directly threatens the individual, the legally protected interests of society or the state, and this the danger could not be eliminated by other means, then such an act cannot be considered criminal, provided that the limits of extreme necessity were not exceeded (Article 39 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

14. The acts of an official related to the use of official powers, resulting in harm to interests protected by criminal law, cannot be recognized as criminal if they were committed in pursuance of an order or instruction that is obligatory for him (Article 42 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

An official who has committed an intentional crime under Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in pursuance of an order or instruction known to him to be illegal, bears criminal liability on a general basis. In this case, the actions of a superior official who issued such an order or instruction should be considered, if there are grounds for it, as incitement to commit a crime or organization of this crime and qualified under the relevant article of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with reference to part 3 or part 4 of article 33 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

An official who has issued a knowingly illegal order or instruction to a subordinate who did not realize the illegality of such an order or instruction and carried it out is subject to liability as a perpetrator of a crime.

15. Under the use by an official of his official powers contrary to the interests of the service (Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the courts should understand the commission of such acts that, although they were directly related to the exercise by the official of his rights and duties, were not caused by official necessity and were objectively contrary to the general the tasks and requirements imposed on the state apparatus and the apparatus of local self-government bodies, as well as those goals and objectives for the achievement of which the official was vested with the appropriate official powers. In particular, the actions of an official who, out of selfish or other personal interest, performs actions within the scope of his official powers in the absence of mandatory conditions or grounds for their commission (for example, issuing a driver’s license to persons who have not passed a mandatory exam; hiring of persons who do not actually perform labor duties; release by commanders (chiefs) of subordinates from the performance of their official duties with assignment to work in commercial organizations or arrangement of the official’s personal household).

Responsibility under Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation also arises for the intentional failure by an official to fulfill his duties in the event that such inaction was committed out of selfish or other personal interest, objectively contradicted the goals and objectives for the achievement of which the official was vested with the appropriate official powers, and entailed a significant violation of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens or organizations or legally protected interests of society and the state.

16. When deciding on the presence in the actions (inaction) of the defendant of the crime provided for in Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the following signs of the subjective side of this crime, in addition to intent, should be understood:

selfish interest - the desire of an official, by committing unlawful actions, to obtain for himself or other persons a benefit of a property nature, not related to the illegal gratuitous circulation of property for his own benefit or for the benefit of other persons (for example, illegal receipt of benefits, credit, exemption from any property costs , return of property, repayment of debt, payment of services, payment of taxes, etc.);

other personal interest - the desire of an official to obtain a non-property benefit, caused by such motives as careerism, nepotism, the desire to embellish the actual situation, receive a mutual favor, enlist support in resolving any issue, hide one’s incompetence, etc.

Protectionism should be considered as the use by an official of his official powers contrary to the interests of the service, which is understood as illegal assistance in employment, promotion, encouragement of a subordinate, as well as other patronage of the service, committed out of selfish or other personal interest.

17. In contrast to the theft of someone else’s property using an official position, abuse of official powers out of selfish interest consists of such acts of an official that are either not related to the seizure of someone else’s property (for example, receiving property benefits from using property for other purposes), or are related to temporary and (or) compensated seizure of property.

If an official’s use of his official powers resulted in the theft of someone else’s property when it was actually confiscated, the act is fully covered by part of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or part of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and does not require additional qualifications under Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In cases where an official, using his official powers, along with the theft of someone else's property, committed other illegal actions related to the abuse of official powers out of selfish or other personal interest, what he did should be qualified according to the totality of these crimes.

Likewise, based on the provisions of Article 17 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the issue related to the legal assessment of the actions of the official who committed official forgery must be resolved. In cases where such a person, in connection with the performance of his official duties, has introduced knowingly false information or corrections into official documents that distort their actual content, the act must be qualified under Article 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If, along with committing actions entailing criminal liability under Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, they commit official forgery, then the act must be qualified in conjunction with Article 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

18. In cases of abuse of official powers and exceeding official powers, the courts must, along with other circumstances of the case, find out and indicate in the verdict exactly what rights and legitimate interests of citizens or organizations or legally protected interests of society or the state were violated and whether the damage is these rights and interests are harmed in a causal connection with the official’s violation of his official powers.

A significant violation of the rights of citizens or organizations as a result of abuse of official powers or exceeding official powers should be understood as a violation of the rights and freedoms of individuals and legal entities guaranteed by generally recognized principles and norms of international law, the Constitution of the Russian Federation (for example, the right to respect for the honor and dignity of an individual, personal and family life of citizens, the right to the inviolability of home and privacy of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal, telegraph and other messages, as well as the right to judicial protection and access to justice, including the right to an effective remedy in a government body and compensation for damage, caused by a crime, etc.). When assessing the significance of the harm, it is necessary to take into account the degree of negative impact of the unlawful act on the normal operation of the organization, the nature and size of the material damage suffered by it, the number of injured citizens, the severity of the physical, moral or property damage caused to them, etc.

Violation of the legitimate interests of citizens or organizations as a result of abuse of official powers or exceeding official powers should be understood, in particular, as the creation of obstacles in the satisfaction of citizens or organizations of their needs that do not contradict the norms of law and public morality (for example, the creation by an official of obstacles that limit the ability to choose in cases provided by law, at the discretion of the organization for cooperation).

19. In contrast to the responsibility provided for in Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for committing actions (inaction) within one’s competence contrary to the interests of the service, responsibility for exceeding official powers (Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) occurs if an official commits active actions that clearly go beyond the scope of his powers , which entailed a significant violation of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens or organizations or legally protected interests of society or the state, if the official was aware that he was acting outside the powers vested in him.

Exceeding official powers can be expressed, for example, in the commission by an official in the performance of official duties of actions that:

relate to the powers of another official (superior or equal in status);

can be committed only in the presence of special circumstances specified in the law or regulations (for example, the use of weapons against a minor, if his actions did not create a real danger to the lives of other persons);

committed by an official alone, but can only be carried out collectively or in accordance with the procedure established by law, in agreement with another official or body;

no one has the right to commit under any circumstances.

Based on the disposition of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the motive for the crime does not matter in order to qualify the act as abuse of authority.

20. When qualifying a person’s actions under paragraph “b” of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, courts should understand the use of weapons or special means as intentional actions related to the person’s use of the damaging properties of these objects, or their use for their intended purpose.

When delimiting abuse of power committed with the use of weapons or special means from lawful actions of officials, courts should take into account that the grounds, conditions and limits for the use of weapons or special means are defined in the relevant regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation (for example, in Federal Law No. 3 April 1995 No. 40-FZ “On the Federal Security Service”, Federal Law of February 6, 1997 No. 27-FZ “On the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation”, Federal Law of May 27, 1996 No. 57-FZ “On State Security”, Law of the Russian Federation of April 18, 1991 No. 1026-1 “On the Police”).

Special means include rubber truncheons, handcuffs, tear gas, water cannons, armored vehicles, means of destroying obstacles, service dogs and other means used by internal affairs bodies, internal troops, federal state security agencies, federal security service agencies, and criminal-executive agencies. systems, etc.

21. Under grave consequences as a qualifying feature of a crime, provided for in part of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and paragraph “c” of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, one should understand the consequences of committing a crime in the form of major accidents and a long stoppage of transport or production process, other disruption of the organization’s activities, causing significant material damage, causing death by negligence, suicide or attempted suicide of the victim, etc.

22. When considering criminal cases of crimes under Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the courts must find out which regulatory legal acts, as well as other documents, establish the rights and obligations of the accused official, citing them in the verdict, and indicate abuse of which of these rights and obligations or excess of which of them is charged to him, with reference to specific norms (article, part, paragraph).

If the indictment or indictment does not contain the specified data, which is not possible to fill in at a court hearing, the criminal case is subject to return to the prosecutor in accordance with Article 237 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation in order to remove obstacles to its consideration by the court.

23. Courts should keep in mind that in accordance with paragraph “a” of Part 1 of Article 104.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, money, valuables and other property received as a result of a crime under Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and any income from this property are subject to confiscation, for with the exception of property and income from it, subject to return to the rightful owner.

24. When establishing circumstances that contributed to the commission of crimes provided for in Articles 285 and 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, violations of the rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as other violations of the law committed during the investigation, preliminary investigation or when considering a criminal case by a lower court, recommend to the courts in accordance with part of Article 29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation to issue specific rulings or resolutions, drawing the attention of relevant organizations and officials to these circumstances and facts of violations of the law, requiring the necessary measures to be taken to eliminate them.

25. In connection with the adoption of this Resolution, the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the USSR dated March 30, 1990 No. 4 “On judicial practice in cases of abuse of power or official position, abuse of power or official authority, negligence and official forgery."

Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation V. M. Lebedev

Secretary of the Plenum, Judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation V. V. Doroshkov

Now let's take a closer look at what each type of secret is.

1. Banking secrecy. According to Article 26 of Federal Law No. 395-1 , bank secrecy includes information about transactions, accounts and deposits of clients and correspondents. Data constituting bank secrecy can be provided to the Credit History Bureau, the Deposit Insurance Agency, the courts, the Accounts Chamber, investigative and customs authorities, as well as a number of other organizations, the list of which is constantly expanding.
2. Tax secret . According to Article 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation , any information received by the Federal Tax Service, investigative, customs authorities, as well as bodies of the state extra-budgetary fund about taxpayers and payers of insurance premiums is considered a tax secret. However, there are many exceptions. For example, information about tax arrears, tax identification number, information about the tax regime used and some other data does not apply to tax secrets.
3. Trade secret . of 98-FZ states that a trade secret is understood as a regime of confidentiality of information that allows its owner to increase income, reduce costs, and also receive other benefits. This can be information of any nature - economic, technical, production, organizational, etc.

Basic Concepts

Everyone understands that if there is espionage, then it is secrecy. If we are talking about entrepreneurship and commerce, then it is expressed in the theft of information that constitutes an official or commercial secret. In a material sense, these could be documents, product samples or materials for production.

Industrial espionage can have two main goals:

• Eliminating a successful competitor.
• Conquering the market.

At the same time, industrial espionage and competitive intelligence should not be confused, although they have the same goal. If the first is carried out only by illegal methods, then reconnaissance is legal. Read: Responsibility for violation of antimonopoly legislation: grounds and types
It consists of collecting and processing information obtained from legal (albeit not accessible to all persons) sources. In this regard, it is reasonable to ask why espionage is increasingly being used instead of intelligence. The answer is banal - reluctance or inability to constantly spend huge amounts of money to support intelligence activities. To do this, companies have to maintain a staff of analysts and spend on current costs associated with obtaining information.

Industrial espionage, although it involves a significant monetary payment to the participants, is not extended over time. Plus, of course, there is information that simply cannot be obtained through legal means. So, in such situations, dishonest businessmen resort to unfair competition.

Liability under Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The following sanctions are provided for collecting information:

• a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles (or in the amount of the income of the convicted person for a period of up to 1 year);
• up to 1 year of repairs;
• up to 2 years of forced labor;
• up to 2 years in prison.

The following sanctions may be applied for the dissemination or use of information:

• a fine of up to 1 million rubles (or in the amount of the income of the convicted person for a period of up to 2 years);
• up to 2 years of repairs;
• up to 3 years of forced labor;
• up to 3 years in prison.

If the judge chooses a fine as the main punishment, then an additional sanction may be deprivation of the right to hold certain positions (engage in certain activities) for up to 3 years.

If the act is complicated by the circumstances described above, then the punishment is more severe. So, if a person, through his actions, caused major damage to another entity, the maximum sanction that awaits him is placement in a colony for up to 5 years.

Most popular methods

Of course, there are a great many ways to illegally acquire information. Let's consider only the most widely used methods and means:

• Recruitment . Of course, technological progress has come a long way. You can use his achievements, but the most commonly used method is still outbidding the person who has the necessary information. Therefore, the security service must monitor unreliable employees as carefully as possible. Plus, the company’s management should provide financial incentives to its employees so that they don’t want to lose their jobs.
• Blackmail . Another favorite method of spies of all stripes. To carry it out, they monitor the personal connections of the person of interest; if they find some kind of compromising evidence, then under pressure they are persuaded to cooperate and disclose the necessary information.
• Development of social networks and Internet activity . Social networks nowadays are a godsend for a spy. Millions of photographs and comments settle here. And some of them are related to the user’s work. Simply, a person actively participating in social networks leaves a truly perfect dossier on himself. It is not without reason that restrictions on such Internet resources have been introduced for intelligence officers in Russia.
• Introduction of your agent . One of the most expensive methods, which can become the most profitable. It becomes costly not even from the point of view of monetary investments, but mental ones. After all, you will have to figure out not only how to bypass the security service when applying for a job so that no one suspects connections with competitors, but also how to obtain and transmit information in such a way that its leak is not associated with the identity of a spy.
• Tracking. But this method allows technical thought to develop. This involves the latest bugs, drones flying over production sites, miniature cameras, etc. It is very difficult to detect such devices. This requires an expensive check by specialists, and even better, the presence of your own staff who can track these miracles of technology and electronics. Corporations often have a rule for employees: when passing through a checkpoint, they hand over their phones, and in return they receive simple push-button phones belonging to the company, which they can use during the entire working time.
• Cyber ​​attack. In the age of computer technology, all information relating to the life of an enterprise, from accounting reports to the latest developments, is recorded on electronic media. This is a field for hackers. Sending virus-infected emails, installing tracking programs and hacking. In the end, even the Pentagon's internal networks are being hacked. Therefore, if you have a good specialist, it will be possible to bypass electronic protection of not the highest level. The only solution may be to store particularly important information on media that does not have access to the Network.
• Bribery of employees of regulatory authorities. According to Russian laws, in certain cases, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and tax services have the right to request information classified as a trade secret.

Examples of industrial espionage go back centuries. One of the first most famous was the abduction in the 4th century. silkworm caterpillars, which two monks managed to carry out of the Middle Kingdom with their staves. And the customer in this case was the Byzantine emperor. As a result, China's monopoly in silk production was lost.

If we take recent history, a notable example will be the export of tea bush seedlings from Ceylon by Soviet intelligence officers in the 30s of the last century. This theft gave rise to the development of the tea industry in Georgia.

Let's consider several real cases of sentencing under Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

A resident of Ulan-Ude, who worked as a specialist in the sales office of a cellular operator, copied personal data of subscribers and sent them to an unknown person on the Internet for a fee of 6 thousand rubles. These actions did not lead to negative consequences for the clients; however, the woman was found guilty of committing crimes under Part 3 of Article 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Part 3 of Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. As a result, the court sentenced the former operator to a suspended sentence of 3 years in prison with a probationary period of 2 years.

And another example.

A 26-year-old resident of Volgodonsk, who moved to work from Sberbank to VTB, illegally copied and took with him a client database from his previous place of employment. The man did this in order to “lure” Sberbank clients to VTB: in total, the employee had information about 3,000 citizens at his disposal. The court found the man guilty of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sentenced him to a fine of 70 thousand rubles. The convict was also prohibited for one and a half years from applying for positions involving working with bank secrecy.

A citizen suspected or accused of committing a crime under Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation should fear not so much sanctions as the consequences of a possible criminal record. A criminal record may make it impossible to find leadership positions in large organizations.

For this reason, it is vital for citizens to contact an experienced lawyer , who can legally terminate criminal prosecution. If this is not possible, a specialist will help achieve an acquittal or the most lenient punishment. Especially those who are suspected or accused of committing several crimes at once should not neglect the help of a lawyer.

Legal basis for the protection of banking information and sanctions for violation of bank secrecy

Legislation on the protection of bank secrecy is based on the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 23 defines the right of citizens to personal privacy, privacy of correspondence and the privacy of other personal information) and the provisions of international treaties and agreements (regarding information security). It includes provisions:

• Codes of the Russian Federation (Civil (Article 857), Criminal (Article 183), on administrative offenses (Articles 13.14, 13.11));
• laws and regulations (law “On Banks and Banking Activities” dated December 2, 1990 No. 395-1 (Article 26), Law “On Information..." dated July 27, 2006 No. 149-FZ, etc.).

Russian legislation provides for unconditional compliance with the requirements of standards (including international ones) and regulations for the processing and protection of information.

Responsibility for disclosure of bank secrecy is provided as follows:

• administrative:

• civil law (Article 857 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) - may arise for the bank if a client whose data was disclosed demands compensation for losses caused;
• criminal (see next section).

Find out what is included in the concept of “personal data” and what sanctions may arise if they are disclosed in the “Personal Data” section.