ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Alessandro Pistochini, Davide Giorgiadi, Giulia Barattini and Carlotta Scozia, Pistochini Avvocati Studio Legale
Both time limits run for 90 days after the deadline for filing the grounds of the judgment. After these maximum time limits have passed, criminal action is time-barred, and the trial is extinguished (Article 344-bis of the Criminal Procedure Code). On 16 January 2024, the Chamber of Deputies approved Bill C-893, which provides for a new amendment to the statute of limitations. The bill stipulates the repeal of the phase deadlines introduced by the Cartabia Reform. However, its implementation is pending approval by the Sen - ate of the Republic. As for the administrative liability of legal entities, the limitation period under Article 22 of Legis - lative Decree No 231/01 is five years after the crime was committed. This term can be suspended by a request to apply precautionary measures and by an enti - ty being charged with having committed the administrative offence. In the latter event, the statute of limitations does not run until the final judgment becomes enforceable. 3.2 Geographical Reach of Applicable Legislation Italian criminal law applies to crimes committed on Italian territory. More specifically, under Article 6 of the ICC, territorial jurisdiction is established (i) over conduct that occurred either wholly or partially within the territory of the state and (ii) even in those circumstances where the offence is wholly committed abroad but its effects take place in the national territory. Nevertheless, with regard to certain serious offences such as corruption, Articles 9 and 10 of the Criminal Code establish national or uni-
versal jurisdiction over cases not covered by the above-mentioned Article 6. Specifically, Italy has extraterritorial jurisdiction over conduct wholly committed abroad that does not have any effect in the national territory when three conditions are met: • the perpetrator is within Italian territory; • the double-criminality principle is satisfied; and • a request for punishment is made by the Min - ister of Justice or the injured party. However, it should be mentioned that Anti-cor - ruption Law No 3/2019 has recently facilitated the prosecution of corruption offences commit - ted by a national or foreign citizen by eliminating the condition that a request for punishment for such crimes should be made by the Minister of Legislative Decree No 231/2001 introduced administrative liability against legal entities in the event that any of the crimes listed in Legislative Decree No 231/2001 (including crimes against public administration) are perpetrated by direc - tors, managers or employees for the benefit of – or in the interest of – the company. This is an autonomous liability of the legal entity (so-called organisational negligence) for not hav - ing adopted organisational models capable of preventing the crimes listed in the Decree from being committed (for further details, see 4.5 Safe Harbour or Amnesty Programme and 8.1 Com- pliance Obligations ). In connection with this point, it is worth men - tioning that a company’s liability arising from crimes committed is completely independent Justice or the injured party. 3.3 Corporate Liability
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