ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Enrico Maria Mancuso, Federico Bracalente, Marco Accorroni and Marco Mariotti, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP
• a senior manager, it is sufficient to demonstrate that the offence was committed by that individual in the interest or for the benefit of the legal entity; or • an individual subject to their supervision, it is nec - essary to additionally demonstrate that the offence was made possible by the senior managers’ failure to fulfil their obligations of direction and supervi - sion. 1.3 Aiding and Abetting In Italy, a person can be held criminally liable if they conspire with or assist the principal offender, but this liability generally does not take the form of a sepa - rate or secondary offence. Italian criminal law adopts a unified model of participation: anyone who know - ingly contributes to the commission of an offence – by assisting, facilitating, instigating or encouraging it – is liable for the same offence committed by the principal. There is no distinct concept of accessory or aiding‑and‑abetting liability; all participants are charged with the underlying offence itself, with differ - ences in their respective roles considered only at the sentencing stage. 1.4 Limitation Periods Criminal limitation periods determine how long the state has to prosecute an offence and are governed by the ICC. Civil recovery actions are instead gov - erned by the Civil Code and follow separate, generally Criminal limitation periods are tied to the maximum statutory penalty for each offence, subject to a mini - mum of six years for felonies ( delitti ) and four years for misdemeanours ( contravvenzioni ). The period begins on the date the offence is completed and may be inter - rupted by procedural acts, but may not be extended beyond the original period by more than one-quarter to twice the original period (depending on the offence and the offender’s criminal record). Following the first- instance judgment, the limitation period ceases to run permanently. Italian law contains no general discovery rule: the clock runs from the date of commission regardless of concealment (or when it is revealed). For permanent shorter, timeframes. Criminal Limitation
and continuing offences, the limitation period begins when the conduct ceases. No special rule applies to transnational offences. Civil Limitation Claims for damages arising from a criminal offence are subject to a five-year limitation period from the date of the offence, unless the applicable criminal statute of limitations is longer. Where the offence is extinguished on grounds other than limitation, or where a final criminal judgment has been issued, the five-year period runs from the date on which the offence was extinguished or the judgment became final and binding. Damages may be claimed either within the criminal proceedings or before a civil court. The civil limitation period is interrupted by, inter alia: (i) the service or filing of any relevant petition to court or claim raised within an ongoing judicial proceeding, (ii) any formal notice putting the defendant in default, (iii) the commencement of arbitral proceedings, or (iv) any acknowledgment of the debt by the debtor. Upon interruption, a new limitation period starts; if interruption occurs through the acts under (i), the limi - tation period remains suspended until the judgment becomes final. 1.5 Extraterritorial Reach and Cross-Border Co-Operation Extraterritorial Application Italian criminal law is primarily territorial: any individual who commits an offence on Italian territory is subject to Italian law. An offence is deemed committed in Italy where either the conduct or the resulting event occurs there, even if only in part. Extraterritorial jurisdiction arises in exceptional cases, including: • certain serious offences committed abroad by nationals and foreigners alike – eg, counterfeiting of the state seal or legal tender, stamp duty instru - ments or public credit securities, offences by pub - lic officials abusing their functions and offences for which international conventions expressly provide for the application of Italian law;
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