Primary foreign anti-bribery legislation and enforcement agencies
Criminal Code
Authorities responsible for criminal proceedings and investigation: Luxembourg public prosecutor and criminal police (both having a certain number of people specialized in combating corruption)
Offences
Bribing (Foreign) Public Officials (Art. 252 Criminal Code)
The legal provisions applicable to Luxembourg public officials also apply to foreign public officials.
Considered as foreign public officials are civil servants of a foreign state, foreign judges or arbitral judges, to European civil servants and members of the European institutions, subject to the provisions of European law, civil servants and employees of public or judicial international organizations, members of foreign parliaments, or international Courts.
Bribery is broadly understood as the fact of offering, promising, giving or granting advantages either to accomplish or to not accomplish an act linked to a public function, duties, mission or mandate or facilitated by such function, duties, mission or mandate, or to abuse a true or assumed influence in order to obtain from a public authority or public administration rewards, employment, business or any other favorable decision.
The law in force does not allow any exemptions for facilitation payments.
Grounds for justification, non-liability, mitigation of liability and excuse (Art. 71-2 Criminal Code)
A person who has acted under duress or coercion which he was not able to resist shall not incur criminal liability.
Corporate liability (Art. 34 Criminal Code)
Criminal liability of legal persons arises if members of the board or its de jure or de facto managers commit an element of the offence.
Extraterritorial application (Art. 5-1 Code of Criminal Procedure)
May be prosecuted and tried in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
- any Luxembourg citizen,
- any person who has his habitual residence in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and
- any foreigner found in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg who has committed the offence in another country
Penalties – Criminal and/or Civil liability
For an individual
- Imprisonment between five and 10 years
- Fine between EUR500 to EUR187,500
- Destitution (for life, under certain conditions) of certain political rights or to exercise public functions
- Destitution of certain civil rights between five and 10 years
For the legal persons involved
- Fine up to EUR3.75 million
- Exclusion from any public bid
- Under certain conditions, dissolution of the legal person
This list is to be used as a guide only. It is intended to provide high level information regarding the primary laws in the specified countries in relation to anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws. Please refer to the relevant legislation for detailed information and to ensure that the information contained in this guide is up to date, and refer to the relevant Baker & McKenzie contact for the jurisdiction for specific advice.