DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Simon Evers Hjelmborg, Christian Monberg, Linn Dyrgaard Stinus and Ann Sophie Juul Hird, Accura Advokatpartnerselskab
Danish, foreign, or international public service or office, unlawfully receives, demands, or accepts a gift or other advantage, shall be punished with a fine or imprisonment for up to six years. The definition of serving or exercising public office is wide and includes persons employed in a private company if that company is owned or controlled by the public (and provided that the person is undertaking a public role in the company). Furthermore, foreign public officials in other jurisdictions, including within the EU, are also covered by the provisions. The definition of a gift or other advantage is also wide and includes both tangible and intangible benefits offered to the public official. However, whether hospitality expenditures and promo - tional expenditures are covered depends on the specific circumstances of the case, including whether the recipient earns a personal economic gain, whether the recipient is expected to repay or return the hospitality, and whether the given expenditure is greater than what can reasona - bly be expected, as defined in a judgment from the Supreme Court of Denmark from 1983 (UfR 1983.990 H). Several public bodies, including Agency for Public Finance and Management – Ministry of Finance, Agency for Modernisation, the Danish Police, the Danish Ministry of Defence Acqui - sition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) have published guidelines and codices regarding gift or other advantages to public officials. Attempts of active or passive bribery as well as encouragements of others to actively or pas - sively bribe can also constitute violations of the Criminal Code, regardless of whether the bribe is actually executed or not.
Bribery between private actors is criminalised in Section 299 (2) of the Criminal Code. 2.2 Influence-Peddling There are no separate offences relating to the exchange of influence on decision-making for an undue advantage. In fact, there is hardly any regulation of lobbyism in Denmark as detailed in the Denmark Trends and Developments article for Chambers Anti-Corruption 2025 . Whether influence peddling involving foreign officials is criminalised depends on the specifics of the case. There must be an intent to influence through a gift or other advantage as required under bribery. Influence peddling would thus likely fall under the category of other advantage as detailed in 2.1 Bribery , but it is not separately regulated. To be covered by the Criminal Code, the influence exerted must breach the recipient’s duties or natural influence. 2.3 Financial Record-Keeping Inaccurate corporate books and records, as well as the dissemination of false information, are penalised under several Danish laws. As an example, the Bookkeeping Act requires bookkeeping to be conducted in accordance with good bookkeeping practices and in a man - ner that preserves the bookkeeping material, preventing mistakes or abuse. Non-compliance with the Bookkeeping Act may result in fines pursuant to Section 33. Both physical and legal persons can be fined. A stricter penalty than that prescribed by the Bookkeeping Act may be warranted under Section 302 of the Crimi - nal Code, which typically covers particularly extensive and/or gross offences. If an offence qualifies for a sanction under the Criminal Code, the same offence cannot be punished under the Bookkeeping Act as well due to the observance
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