Article 98. Opinion of the expert (commission of experts)

After conducting the examinations, the expert (commission of experts) shall draw up an opinion, which shall be certified by the signature of the expert or of each expert member of the commission of experts, respectively.

The court shall have the right to invite the expert to provide an oral explanation of his/her opinion. The oral explanation shall be recorded in the minutes of the court hearing, read out to the expert and signed by him/her.

The expert opinion (or the opinion of an expert commission) must include the following: the date and place of the examination; the basis for conducting the examination; information about the court that appointed the examination; information about the expert (surname, first name, patronymic, education, specialization, work experience, academic degree, academic title, and current position), as well as information about the enterprise, institution, or organization entrusted with conducting the examination; a warning regarding criminal liability for knowingly providing a false expert opinion; and for disclosing, without the courtʼs permission, information and details of the deliberations of a closed court hearing when the case is considered in a closed session; the questions posed to the expert; the objects of examination and case materials provided to the expert; information about persons present during the examination; the content and results of the examinations, indicating the methods applied, as well as, if the examination is conducted by an expert commission, by whom each part was performed; the evaluation of the examination results and reasoned answers to the questions posed; and circumstances relevant to the case that were identified on the expertʼs own initiative.

Materials illustrating the conclusion and its results are attached to this conclusion and serve as its integral part. Materials documenting the progress, conditions and results of the study are stored in a state forensic expert institution or a non-state forensic expert organization or other enterprise, institution, organization within the time limits established by law. At the request of the court that appointed the examination, they are submitted for inclusion in the case.

The opinion shall contain a justification for waiver of answering some of the questions raised, if an insufficiency of the objects submitted for examination, materials or special knowledge of the expert was revealed in the course of the examination.