Review

The article provides a comprehensive historical and legal analysis of the formation and evolution of the institute of criminal liability for goods smuggling on the territory of Ukraine. The study covers the key stages in the development of legal regulation of customs relations, from the earliest forms of cus-toms taxation during the period of Kyivan Rus, through the era of Cossack statehood and the Soviet period, to the modern stage of development of criminal legislation in independent Ukraine. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of regulatory and legal sources that established customs payments, the procedure for moving goods across the border, and liability for their illegal movement, as well as to the transformation of the state’s approaches to understanding the social danger of smuggling. The article analyzes the key legislative changes of 2007, 2011, 2015, 2017, and 2023, which significantly affected the structure of criminal offenses, the subject of smuggling, sanctions, and ap-proaches to property confiscation. Special emphasis is placed on the significance of the Law of Ukraine of December 9, 2023 No. 3513-IX as a stage of re-criminalization of goods smuggling, taking into account the principles of differentiation of liability and legal certainty. It is concluded that the institute of criminal liability for smuggling in Ukraine has undergone a complex evolution conditioned by economic, political, and security factors, and that its current state is characterized by an effort to combine effective protection of the state’s customs interests with guar-antees of the rights and freedoms of participants in foreign economic activity. The necessity of further scholarly analysis and improvement of criminal law provisions, taking into account law enforcement practice and international experience, is substantiated. The purpose of the article is to provide a comprehensive scholarly understanding of the forma-tion, evolution, and current state of the institute of criminal liability for goods smuggling in Ukraine through the prism of historical and legal analysis, as well as to identify patterns in the transformation of criminal law approaches to counteracting this socially dangerous phenomenon at various stages of the development of Ukrainian statehood. In order to achieve this purpose, the article is aimed at studying the genesis of legal regulation of liability for illegal movement of goods across the customs border of Ukraine – from the first forms of customs control and fiscal and punitive measures in the period of Kyivan Rus, through the normative constructions of the Cossack state, the Soviet period, to the modern model of criminal law protection of the state’s customs interests formed under conditions of a market economy, European integration processes, and the legal regime of martial law. Special attention is focused on clarifying the content and evolution of the concept of goods smuggling as a criminally punishable act, analyzing the subject matter, methods of commission, and elements of the relevant criminal offenses, as well as on studying changes in the role of criminal sanctions and property-related measures of influence (in particular confiscation and special confisca-tion) in the system of counteracting the illegal movement of goods. In addition, the purpose of the article is to provide a critical analysis of modern legislative novel-ties introduced into the Criminal Code of Ukraine in 2023, in particular the structural reform of Articles 201, 201–1, 201–3, and 201–4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in order to assess their compliance with the principles of legal certainty, differentiation of criminal liability, proportionality of criminal law intervention, and the balance between protecting the economic security of the state and ensuring the freedom of lawful economic activity. The overall objective of the study is to formulate theoretically substantiated conclusions regard-ing the place and role of the institute of criminal liability for goods smuggling in the system of criminal law of Ukraine, as well as to develop scholarly guidelines for further improvement of criminal legis-lation and law enforcement practice in the context of modern economic, security, and international legal challenges.