Anti-Corruption 2025

DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Simon Evers Hjelmborg, Christian Monberg, Linn Dyrgaard Stinus and Ann Sophie Juul Hird, Accura Advokatpartnerselskab

affiliation), are also subject to Danish jurisdic - tion, 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 has Danish affiliation not only at the time of the charge, but also at the time of committing the act, and the act either: • involves sexual exploitation of children, human trafficking, or female genital mutila - tion; or • is directed against someone who, at the time of the act, has the mentioned Danish affilia - tion (Section 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 extraterritorial reach for acts committed outside of any jurisdictions by a person who, at the time of the charge, has Danish affiliation as described above, and the committed offence can result in a higher sanction than four months of imprison - ment. The provisions in Sections 7(1) and 7(2) also apply to acts committed by a person which is, at the time of the charge, a citizen of Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden, lives in Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden and is 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 juris - diction (Section 8) when the action:

• infringes the independence, security, con - stitution, 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 connec - tion 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 jurisdiction; or • the extradition of the accused for prosecution in another country is refused, and 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 pen - alty 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 conse- quence , 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 perpe - trator was located in Denmark at the time of the act, regardless of whether the offence is com - pleted or intended to be completed outside the Danish territory (Section 9(3)).

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