Measures of responsibility for corruption offences adopted by countries originally targeted natural persons. The fact that bribery and other most serious corruption offences are traditionally subject to criminal sanctions has contributed to the focus on individual liability.

In many legal systems, one of the fundamental foundations of criminal law has been that for conviction a culpable mental attitude must be concurrent with the proscribed conduct and other material elements of an offenсe. At the same time, the ability of a legal entity to have any mental attitude still raises serious doubts among lawyers.

Nevertheless, there are several significant arguments in favour of holding not only natural but also legal persons liable for corruption. Some of these arguments as well as the main models of corporate liability for corruption, the key elements of corruption offences, and the types of sanctions are discussed in this article.

Corruption, corporate, legislation

International organizations

Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

FATF Recommendations –Interpretive Note to Recommendation 3;

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

OECD Conventionon Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions;

OECD Council Recommendation on Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions;

Organization of American States (OAS)

Inter-American Convention against Corruption (Convención Interamericana contra la Corrupción);

United Nations (UN)

UN Convention against Corruption.

Country Legislation and Other Documents

Argentina

Criminal Code (Codigo Penal);

Law 27.401 “Criminal Liability of Legal Persons” (Ley 27.401, Ley de Responsabilidad Penal de Personas Jurídicas Privadas);

Azerbaijan

CriminalCode (Azərbaycan Respublikasının Cinayət Məcəlləsi);

Brazil

Law of August 1, 2013 No. 12.846 “On Administrative and Civil Liability of Legal Entities for the Practice of Acts against the Public Administration, National or Foreign, and Other Measures” (Clean Company Act); (Lei No12.846 de 1º de Agosto de 2013 da Empresa Limpa);

Law of April 1, 2021 No. 14.133 “On Public Procurement and Public Contracts”(Lei Nº 14.133, de 1º de Abril de 2021 de Licitações e Contratos Administrativos);

Anti-Corruption Chamber of the Attorney General's Office. Guidelines No07/2017 “On the Specifics of Leniency Agreements for OrganizationsAccused of Corruption”(Câmara de Combate à Corrupção deMinistério Publico Federal. OrientaçãoNo07/2017 Acordos de Leniência);

Canada

Criminal Code;

Department of Justice. A Plain Language Guide to Bill C-45 –Amendments to the Criminal Code Affecting the Criminal Liability of Organizations;

Chile

Criminal Code (Código Penal);

Law of December 2, 2009 No. 20.393 “On Criminal Liability of Legal Persons for the Crimes Related to Money-Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Bribery”(Ley 20.393 de 2 diciembre 2009, Establece la responsabilidad penal de las personas jurídicas en los delitos de lavado de activos, financiamiento del terrorismo y delitos de cohecho que indica);

Costa Rica

Law No. 9699 “On Liability of Legal Persons for Bribery, Transnational Bribery and other Crimes”(Ley 9699 Responsabilidad de las personas jurídicas sobre cohechos domésticos, soborno transnacional y otros delitos);

Regulation No. 42399-MEIC-MJP clarifying the provisions of Title II of the Law No. 9699 “On Liability of Legal Persons for Bribery, Transnational Bribery and other Crimes”-“Optional Model of Organization, Crime Prevention, Management and Control”;

Czech Republic

Law No 418/2011 “Criminal liability of legal persons and proceeding against them”(Zákon č. 418/2011 Sb. O trestní odpovědnosti právnických osob a řízení proti nim);

France

Penal Code(Code Pénal);

Law of July 26, 1968 No. 68-678 “On the Transfer of Documents and Information of an Economic, Commercial, Industrial, Financial or Technical Nature to Foreign Natural or Legal Persons”(Loi n° 68-678 du 26 juillet 1968 relative à la communication de documents et renseignements d'ordre économique, commercial, industriel, financier ou technique à des personnes physiques ou morales étrangères);

Law of December 9, 2016 No. 2016-1691 “On Transparency, Fight against Corruption and Modernization of Economic Life”(Loi n° 2016-1691 du 9 décembre 2016 relative à la transparence,à la lutte contre la corruption et à la modernisation de la vie économique);

French Anti-Corruption Agency. Guidelines to Help Public and Private Sector Entities to Prevent and Detect Bribery, Influence Peddling, Extortion by Public Officials, Illegal Taking of Interest, Misappropriation of Public Funds and Favouritism (Agence Française Anticorruption. Recommandations destinées à aider les personnes morales de droit public et de droit privé à prévenir et à détecter les faits de corruption, de trafic d’influence, de concussion, de prise illégale d’intérêt, de détournement de fonds publics et de favoritisme);

Ministry of Justice. Circular on Criminal Policy in International Corruption Cases (MinistèredelaJustice. Circulaire de politique pénale en matièrede lutte contre la corruption internationale);

India

Penal Code (भारतीयदंडसंहिता, 1860);

Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (भ्रष्टाचारहिवारणअहिहियम, 1988);

Mexico

National Code of Criminal Procedures (CódigoNacionaldeProcedimientosPenales);

Russia

Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (КодексРоссийскойФедерацииобадминистративныхправонарушениях);

Criminal Code (Уголовныйкодекс);

Labour Code of the Russian Federation (ТрудовойкодексРоссийскойФедерации);

Federal Law of December 25, 2008 No. 273-FZ “On Combating Corruption”(Федеральный закон от 25 декабря2008 г. No 273-ФЗ“О противодействии коррупции”);

Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Review of Judicial Practice of Consideration of Cases on Bringing Organisations to Administrative Responsibility under Article 19.28 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation of 8 July 2020 (Президиум Верховного суда Российской Федерации. Обзор судебной практики рассмотрения дел о привлечении организаций к административной ответственности, предусмотренной статьей 19.28 Кодекса Российской Федерации об административных правонарушениях, от 8 июля 2020 г.).