Note:
The Legislative Decree 231 / 2001, issued on the 8th of June 2001, Regulation of the administrative liability of legal persons, companies and associations, including those without legal status (Decree 231), sets forth administrative liability for entities in the Italian legal system.According to Decree 231, the entity is liable for certain criminal offenses (expressly referred to in Decree 231) that are committed for the benefit and in the interest of the entity by persons who perform functions of representation, direction, or management of the entity or one of its organizational units with financial and functional autonomy, by persons who exercise, even de facto, management and supervision functions, and by persons under the management or supervision of one of the above. This liability is independent with regard to the criminal liability of the natural person who actually committed the crime and it is attached to the latter.The list of crimes that triggers the application of Decree 231 has been progressively extended over the years by subsequent laws and is still frequently subject to regulatory changes.The extension of liability that Decree 231 sets forth aims at including the assets of the entities in the punishment for some criminal offences and, ultimately, the economic interests of the entities’ shareholders, who, before Decree 231 came into force, did not suffer any consequences for the crimes committed by the directors or employees in the interest and for the benefit of the entity. The principle of personal liability used to justify the non conviction of entities for criminal offenses, other than the potential compensation of the damage (societas delinquere non potest). |
