According to the law, organizations will be held liable if corruption offenses are committed on behalf of or for the benefit of the organization (directly or indirectly):
- their partners, directors, managers and official representatives, as well as these categories of persons in their branches or other affiliated companies;
- persons controlling the activities of the above-mentioned persons, who authorized or allowed the commission of the crime due to insufficient control and supervision.
At the same time, the crimes for the commission of which an organization may be held liable by individuals include:
- bribery of officials in general - Article 397 of the Criminal Code;
- bribery of foreign officials and officials of international organizations - article 397-A of the Criminal Code;
- bribery of officials occupying particularly important positions (e.g. judges, prosecutors and others) - Art. 398 of the Criminal Code;
- money laundering - Articles 1-3 of Legislative Decree No. 1106;
- financing of terrorism - Article 4-A of Law No. 25475.
Administrative liability of an organization is incurred regardless of the initiation of criminal proceedings against a natural person. It should be noted that, according to the Law, a legal entity is not liable for a crime of a natural person under Article 397-A of the CC, if it was committed solely in the personal interests of the natural person.
The Act applies to all types of private and public organizations, such as companies, associations, foundations, non-governmental organizations, committees (including unregistered), as well as irregular associations, independent asset managers, public companies and mixed economy (public-private) companies. However, parent companies will be liable for crimes committed by their subsidiaries or other affiliated organizations if they were authorized by the parent company.
Under the Act, organizations may face the following types of sanctions:
- A fine of not less than 2 times and not more than 6 times the amount of the benefit received;
- suspension of the company's activities for a period of 6 months to 2 years;
- prohibition to carry out the line of business in which the unlawful act took place for a period of 1 to 5 years or indefinitely;
- prohibition to participate in public procurement or to enter into contracts with the government for an indefinite period of time;
- revocation of permits, licenses, concluded contracts and other administrative or municipal authorizations;
- closure of premises belonging to the company for a period of 1 to 5 years or indefinitely;
- dissolution of the company.
In addition, the Law provides for the possibility of confiscation of illegally obtained company assets by court order.
The Law lists mitigating and aggravating circumstances, as well as criteria for determining the punishment to be set by a judge.
At the same time, Article 17 of the Law provides for the possibility of exempting an organization from liability if it has taken all appropriate measures to prevent the commission of a crime:
- appointment of a person responsible for the prevention of corruption with autonomy of action. For micro and small enterprises, such a role may be assigned directly to the management body;
- Identification, assessment and minimization of corruption risks;
- internal mechanisms for reporting observed wrongdoing;
- Informing and training the organization's staff on corruption prevention;
- Continuous monitoring and evaluation of the crime prevention system. The content of such a system should be defined in a separate Legislative Decree, which is still being drafted.
The existence of these measures in the organization may be certified by duly registered and accredited organizations. The list of such organizations should also be defined in a separate legal act.
If these measures were introduced after the commission of the crime, or if the organization proves that they partially took place before the crime was committed, it can count on mitigation of liability measures.
It should be noted that the Law provides for a proviso that a legal entity shall not be held liable if, while committing a crime, a natural person intentionally neglected the measures established in the organization to prevent it.