ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Alessandro Pistochini, Luca Moglia, Giovanni Bellissimo and Giulia Barattini, Pistochini Avvocati Studio Legale
Pistochini Avvocati Studio Legale C.so di Porta Vittoria 10
20122 Milano MI, Italy Tel: +39 02 303 7081 Email: g.traghin@pistochinilex.it Web: www.pistochiniavvocati.it/en/
1. Criminal Law 1.1 Criminal Offences
proof lies with the Public Prosecutor, and any doubt leads to acquittal (in dubio pro reo). Presumptions are allowed but must respect consti - tutional guarantees: they must be reasonable, rebut - table, and not invert the burden of proof or impair the right to defence. Simple presumptions are logical inferences from known, serious, precise, and consistent facts. In financial crimes, such as self-laundering (Article 648-ter ICC), illicit origin may be inferred from suspi - cious transactions; in money laundering (Article 648- bis ICC), unexplained large sums may justify a pre - sumption of illegality. In tax evasion, unjustified bank transactions may imply undeclared income; in tax fraud (Legislative Decree 74/2000), behaviours such as issuing false invoices may establish a presumed intent, which is rebuttable by the defendant. 1.3 Statute of Limitations Under Italian criminal law, crimes expire after a period equal to the maximum statutory prison term, which is at least six years for felonies and four years for misde- meanours, starting from the day of the offence (Article 157 ICC). Limitations may be suspended by procedural acts (Articles 160–161 ICC) and extended by up to one- quarter; for corruption (Articles 318–322-bis ICC), up to double. Certain tax crimes (Legislative Decree 74/2000, Article 17) have a one-third increase. For attempts, the statute of limitations period begins to run from the end of the criminal conduct, for perma -
Italian criminal law classifies offences as felonies or misdemeanours. Felonies are punishable by imprison - ment, life imprisonment or fines, whereas misdemean - ours are punishable by arrest or monetary sanctions. A criminal offence requires: • typical conduct – a concrete human act with legal disvalue; • unlawfulness – absence of justification; • culpability – intent (dolus) or negligence (culpa), with intent (awareness and volition) as the standard for felonies. All three are constitutive elements; lacking any one of them excludes criminal liability. Motive is not necessary unless legally specified, though it may affect sentencing and assessment of dangerousness. Criminal liability for attempted offences is recognised for felonies (Articles 56–57 ICC), but not for misde - meanours, and requires acts that are suitable and unequivocally directed towards the commission of the offence, which fail solely due to extraneous factors. 1.2 Burden of Proof Financial crimes, like all offences under the Italian Criminal Code (ICC), are subject to constitutional prin - ciples and the Code of Criminal Procedure (ICCP), primarily the presumption of innocence: the burden of
120 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook