On 11 February 2017, the Act Amending the Law on the Criminal Liability of Representatives of Juristic Persons (the Act) came into effect.
The purpose of the Act is to remove legal presumption on criminal liability for directors, managers, and persons responsible for the operation of a juristic person as specified in 76 pieces of legislation, including the Revenue Code, the Offenses concerning Registered Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, Limited Companies, Associations, and Foundations Act, the Patents Act, the Consumer Protection Act, the Immigration Act, the Factory Act, the Life and Non-Life Insurance Acts and the Medical Device Act.
Originally, these laws specified that when a juristic person commits a criminal offense, directors, managers, or persons responsible for the operation of a juristic person are presumed from the beginning to have criminal liability, unless they can prove that they were not involved in the commission of the offense.
Following the Constitutional Court’s decision which ruled that the presumption of criminal liability is unconstitutional and unenforceable, the new Act was drafted to amend legal presumption in this regard. Under the new Act, representatives of juristic persons are presumed innocent, unless it was proven that their action or omission caused the juristic persons to commit the offense.
