In brief
On 14 and 15 December 2021, Legislative Decree No. 184/2021 and Legislative Decree No. 195/2021, which significantly amended Legislative Decree No. 231/2001 on corporate liability and the Italian Criminal Code entered into force.
In particular, Legislative Decree No. 184/2021 extended the list of predicate crimes pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 231/2001 by including Article 25-octies.1 on “Crimes related to non-cash payment instruments”.
In light of the foregoing, corporate liability can now be triggered by the commission of the following crimes, as amended and introduced by the same Legislative Decree No. 184/2021:
(i) Article 493-ter of the Criminal Code on unlawful use and forgery of non-cash payment instruments;
(ii) the newly introduced Article 493-quater of the Criminal Code on possession and dissemination of equipment, devices or computer programs aimed at committing offences concerning non-cash payment instruments; and
(iii) Article 640-ter of the Criminal Code on computer fraud (crime already provided for by Article 24 of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001), for which an aggravating circumstance has been introduced in case the conduct results in the transfer of money, monetary value or virtual currency.
For the commission of these crimes, the entity can be sanctioned with pecuniary fines up to 800 quotas and the application of the restrictive measures set out in Article 9, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001.
Further amendments to the Criminal Code are introduced made by Legislative Decree No. 195/2021 with regard to the crimes of:
(i) receiving stolen goods pursuant to Article 648 of the Criminal Code, by extending its scope also to contraventions and by providing for an aggravating circumstance in case the offence is committed in the exercise of a professional activity;
(ii) money laundering and self laundering pursuant to Articles 648-bis and 648-ter.1 of the Criminal Code, by extending its scope also to culpable offences and contraventions;
(iii) use of money, goods or benefits of unlawful origin pursuant to Article 648-ter of the Criminal Code, by extending its scope also to contraventions.
All these crimes are referred to in Article 25-octies of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001.
