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Greater liability of collective entities – a bill already underway

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​by Laura Sopata

12 August 2022


A bill on liability of collective entities for punishable offences has been forwarded to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.
 
The amended act is intended to improve effectiveness of legal solutions defining the rules of liability – mainly to combat economic and fiscal crime more efficiently. The proposed bill is also of great importance in view of international legislative obligations imposed, among others, by the European Union.
 

The main changes to be introduced by the amended act include:

  • a new definition of a collective entity;
  • elimination of the previous conviction of an individual (prejudication) as a ground for collective entity's liability;
  • it will be possible to conduct proceedings against a collective entity regardless of the litigation against an individual;
  • no separate preparatory proceedings concerning collective entity's liability (facts of the case are to be established as part of preparatory proceedings carried out against an individual);
  • introduction of collective entity's liability for each crime and fiscal crime;
  • harsher penalties (higher thresholds, independent of revenue);
  • deletion of some entities, among others small- and medium-sized enterprises, from the list of collective entities;
  • introduction of a list of individuals who may trigger the entity's vicarious liability;
  • detailed specification of prerequisites for exempting the collective entity from liability.

The draft amendments may exclude the liability of a collective entity if it follows the compliance system introduced in the organisation.
 
Rödl & Partner experts will keep you up to date on the progress in the legislative work. If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact us.

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Łukasz Napiórkowski

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