What is the responsibility for forgery of documents?

Art. 358 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is a norm that regulates the issue of forgery of documents.

Criminal liability under Article 358 of the Criminal Code arises precisely for the forgery of an official document. The Supreme Court in its rulings has repeatedly highlighted the following criteria for such a document:

1. The information in the document has a legally significant nature, that is, it is intended to cause legal consequences by the emergence or termination of rights and obligations.

2. The document must be drawn up by an authorized person of the state authority or another person who is authorized to sign documents of a specific type.

Therefore, in the case of forgery of an official document, criminal liability arises and punishment may be imposed: a fine of up to one thousand tax-free minimum incomes of citizens or arrest for a term of up to six months, or restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years.

It should be noted that the forgery of an unofficial document, for example, personal documents of citizens, gives rise to other types of criminal offenses, in particular, fraud.