DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Christian Monberg, Simon Evers Hjelmborg, Ann Sophie Juul Hird and Linn Dyrgaard Stinus, Accura Advokatpartnerselskab
3.2 Geographical Reach of Applicable Legislation The main rules and principles of territory are outlined in Sections 6–9a of the Criminal Code. All acts committed in Denmark or on Danish vessels, regardless of where the vessel is, are under Danish jurisdiction. This includes acts of corruption such as bribery, embezzlement and fraud, pursuant to Section 6 of the Criminal Code. Furthermore, acts committed in a foreign territory by a person who, at the time of the charge, was a Danish citizen, lived in Denmark or was residing in Denmark on a permanent basis (ie, has Danish affiliation), are also subject to Danish jurisdiction, provided that either (i) the act is a criminal offence in the jurisdiction in which the crime is committed (the principle of dual criminality) or (ii) the perpetrator had Danish affiliation not only at the time of the charge, but also at the time of committing the act, and the act either: • involved sexual exploitation of children, human trafficking, or female genital mutilation; or • was directed against someone who, at the time of the act, had the mentioned Danish affiliation (Sec - tion 7 (1) of the Criminal Code). For good measure, the authors note that the principle of dual criminality does not entail a requirement for the act to be criminalised in both jurisdictions specifically for legal persons as well (Section 7b of the Criminal Code). In addition to this, Section 7 (2) provides for extraterri - torial reach for acts committed outside of any jurisdic - tions by a person who, at the time of the charge, had Danish affiliation as described above, and the com - mitted offence can result in a higher sanction than four months of imprisonment. The provisions in Sections 7 (1) and 7 (2) also apply to acts committed by a person who was, at the time of the charge, a citizen of Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden, lived in Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden and was residing in Denmark.
Regardless of where the perpetrator is a citizen or is residing, actions committed outside of the Danish territory fall within Danish criminal jurisdiction (Section 8) when the action: • infringes the independence, security, constitution, or public authorities of the Danish state, or a duty towards the state; • infringes interests whose legal protection in the Danish state requires a special connection to it; • infringes an obligation that the perpetrator is required by law to observe abroad; • infringes a duty that the perpetrator has towards a Danish vessel; • is covered by an international provision under which Denmark is obliged to have criminal jurisdic - tion; or • the extradition of the accused for prosecution in another country is refused, the action, if committed within a foreign jurisdiction, is punishable under the law of the place where it was committed (double criminality), and the action under Danish law can result in a penalty of imprisonment for at least one year. Lastly, according to Section 9 of the Criminal Code, actions are considered to be carried out where the perpetrator was located at the time of the act. In the case of legal entities, actions are considered to be carried out where the act or acts that result in liability for the legal entity are carried out. If the criminality of an act depends on or is influenced by an actual or intended consequence, the act is also considered to be carried out where the effect has occurred or where the perpetrator intended the effect to occur. When part of an offence is committed in the Danish state, the offence as a whole is considered to be committed in Denmark. Attempts and acts of complicity are considered to be carried out on Danish territory if the perpetrator was located in Denmark at the time of the act, regardless of if the offence is completed or intended to be com - pleted outside the Danish territory (Section 9 (3) of the Criminal Code). All of the principles above apply to the provisions set out in 3.1 Limitation Period , unless otherwise stated.
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