Vol 1 (2004) - Issue 5

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Corporate Criminal Responsibility in Italy: An Inside Look at Legislative Decree 231/2001

The birth of Legislative Decree 231/2001

Prior to the enactment of Legislative Decree number 231 of June 8, 2001 (hereinafter ‘Legislative Decree 231/2001’), the Italian legal system did not provide for corporate administrative responsibility for the criminal conduct of employees. Employees were liable individually for their criminal actions; however, corporate entities as a whole were not responsible, except for the reparation of the civil damages caused by the illegal conduct. This new law is inspired by the compliance models that are adopted in the United States, and it has forced Italian corporations to adopt similar models. This article will highlight the main aspects of the law, and present the single most important decision pursuant to said law.
Legislative Decree 231/2001 was created in the heat of the 2001 parliamentary election campaign, as the polls showed that Italy was preparing to welcome Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right party back to power. The centre-left majority was feeling the pressure, hence they were moving hastily to cram their legislative projects into their final days in office. Their political agenda included creating a regulatory framework to punish legal persons and corporations with sanctions deriving from criminal activity of employees. The purpose of Legislative Decree 231/2001 was to bring into force the principles already established by the European Union and, thereafter, by Law number 300 of September 29, 2000, regarding the elimination of separate sanctions for individual entrepreneurs and managers of corporations. In early May 2001, the Government approved Legislative Decree 231/2001 amid the chaos of the election campaign. The introduction of this law represented a small victory for the centre-left majority, because a significant legal innovation was enacted in a very brief period of time. However, the speed with which the law was created and passed has led to an incomplete and ambiguous legal framework for corporate criminal responsibility in Italy.
The European Union had already provided a series of provisions in light of article 311 of the Treaty on European Union.