NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

No. R (88) 18 1243 on liability of enterprises, which envisages that criminal liability and sanctions must be applicable directly to enterprises, where the nature of the offence and the degree of fault of the legal entity so require. The author conducted research on the criminal liability of business entities in the CoE member states, namely, a study on corporate criminal liability in the national legislation of the states. In order to make reference to Protocol No. 7, the author included the data on ratification of this Protocol, as not all parties to the Convention admitted additional rights set forth by this amending treaty. Data on the ratifications of the two main treaties in Europe concerning criminal liability of legal persons sketch the picture of corporate liability under criminal law in the CoE countries. The results of the research are summarised in the table below. 1244124512461247 Criminal liability of legal entities in the Council of Europe Member States

No. Member State of the Council of Europe

Year from which a legal person may be held liable for criminal offences 1242

Date of entry into force of Protocol No. 7 1243

Date of entry into force of Convention No. 173 1244

Date of entry into force of Convention No. 198 1245

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Albania Andorra Armenia

2007 1995

1/1/1997 1/8/2008 1/7/2002 1/11/1988 1/7/2002 1/7/2012

1/7/2002 1/9/2008 1/5/2006 1/1/2014 1/6/2004 1/7/2004

1/5/2008

Not in force 1/10/2008 Not in force Not in force

No liability

Austria

2006 2012 1999

Azerbaijan

Belgium

1/1/2010

Bosnia and Herzegovina

2003

1/10/2002

1/7/2002

1/5/2008

8. 9.

Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus

2005 2003 1996

1/2/2001 1/2/1998 1/12/2000

1/7/2002 1/7/2002 1/7/2002

1/6/2013 1/2/2009 1/7/2009

10.

1243 Recommendation No. R (88) 18, Concerning liability of enterprises having legal personality for offences committed in the exercise of their activities, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 20 October 1988. 1244 It has to be mentioned that the dates in this column may not be absolutely correct as the criminal liability of legal persons in some states is envisaged by a few legal acts and the dates of entry into force of these laws may be different. Moreover, taking into account the fact that the sources used were mostly translations of domestic legislation into English and Russian, it is possible that the translated laws do not reflect the current situation. The author conducted her own research on legislation in Russia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Moldova, Macedonia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Andorra and Albania. Information on the other countries was taken from Corporate Liability in Europe, by Clifford Chance LLP, January 2012 and from The Criminal Liability of Companies. A Global Practice Guide, prepared by the Lex Mundi Business Crimes and Compliance Practice Group, February 2008. 1245 Data valid on 22 July 2015. 1246 Data valid on 22 July 2015. 1247 Data valid on 22 July 2015, as to the UK the treaty will enter into force on 1 August 2015.

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