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Justice Ministry to Submit Amendment to Criminal Code In January
Tuesday 22 December 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 22 (TASR) - The Justice Ministry will submit a draft amendment to the Criminal Code at the Government session in January 2010 with an aim of introducing criminal liability for corporate entities, ministry spokesman Michal Jurci told TASR on Tuesday.
"Slovakia needs to meet its international obligations. The Spanish model is an inspiration for Slovakia, as it meets all the necessary criteria. In no way does this initiative represent any kind of tool for eliminating competition within the business environment," said Justice Minister Viera Petrikova (LS-HZDS).
Due to Slovakia's membership of the EU and other international organisations (such as the OECD), a need arose to include criminal liability for corporate bodies in the Criminal Code. This change will allow the Code to sanction corporate bodies for activities that meet the criteria of a crime, such as the bribing of public officials, for instance.
According to Jurci, this isn't new legislative material, but a proposal already discussed in 2007 and 2008. The main purpose of introducing criminal liability for corporate bodies is to prevent cases in which nobody receives any punishment for committing a criminal act due to company management structures that make prosecuting a specific perpetrator impossible.
The Justice Ministry proposes embracing the so-called simulated criminal liability of legal entities implemented in Spain, which allows legal sanctions against corporate bodies such as the confiscation of property or financial resources.
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