PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING AND PRESERVING DIGITAL EVIDENCE

The article examines contemporary problems of collecting and recording digital evidence in criminal proceedings, taking into account the latest legislative reform in Uzbekistan and current international standards. The aim is to identify the technological, procedural and organizational barriers that reduce the admissibility, reliability and probative value of electronic data. The study uses formal-legal, comparative-legal and system-structural methods, together with a content analysis of international scholarship and official guidance published in 2021–2026. It is established that the main risks are the volatility of digital environments, alteration of data at the moment of seizure, loss of metadata due to incomplete documentation, difficulties with encrypted and synchronized devices, the cross-border location of cloud data, and the insufficient local regulation of hashing, tool validation and chain-of-custody recording. It is concluded that the trustworthiness of digital proof depends not on the mere existence of electronic data, but on a repeatable and transparent procedure for discovering, seizing, imaging, hashing, storing, reviewing and presenting such data before a court.