In August 2019, the Federal Ministry of Justice submitted a draft for a corporate crime act. This draft will end a decade-long debate on the criminal liability of legal persons and profoundly change the criminal prosecution in the area of economic criminal law. The article classifies the legislative project in the current discourse on criminal policy, reports on the content of the draft and gives a critical commentary on individual points.

After long discussions about the introduction of corporate criminal liability, the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection presented a first draft bill for a new Corporate Sanctions Act in August 2019. The act introduces a major shift in German Criminal law by proposing severe sanctions on companies for corporate criminal offenses. It includes regulations on internal investigations, compliance management systems and legal privilege. Since it was published, the act is discussed intensely among legal experts, politicians and the public. The following article presents the most important provisions of the draft bill. In addition, the authors compare the act to further jurisdiction’s legislation, discuss potential impacts on companies, and provide proposals for improvements for the further legislative process

Swedish criminal law does not allow for corporate criminal liability as it is built on the basic principle of personal criminal liability, meaning that only private individuals are considered able to possess criminal liability and consequently commit crimes. However, a corporation may be subject to corporate fines and other sanctions if a crime has been committed during the corporation’s operations. Corporate fines are the closest equivalent to corporate criminal liability under Swedish law, which sole purposes is punitive although it has been deemed impossible to categorize corporate fines as a punishment in the strictest sense. This article will further explain the design of corporate fines today, the problems resulting from corporations not being able to possess criminal liability as well as the proposed changes to corporate fines from a critical perspective.

The principle that legal entities can be held criminally liable was first introduced into Belgian law in 1999. Some 20 years later, Belgian Parliament reviewed the rules, and adopted a number of significant changes. The present article offers a high-level overview of the currently applicable legal regime.

The aim of this article is to illustrate potential conduits for money laundering in the consulting sector in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. A qualitative content analysis of 100 semi-standardized expert interviews with both criminals and prevention experts was conducted, along with a quantitative survey of 200 compliance officers, allowing for the identification of concrete methods of money laundering in the consulting sector. Due to their excellent reputation, consulting companies in German-speaking countries in Europe continue to be extraordinarily attractive to money launderers. Most notably, they can be used for layering and integration, as well as for working around various issues with tax codes. As the qualitative findings are based on semi-standardized interviews, they are limited to only the 100 interviewees’ perspectives. The identification of loopholes and weaknesses in the current anti-money laundering mechanisms is meant to provide compliance officers, law enforcement agencies, and legislators with valuable insights into how criminals operate, with the aim of helping them to more effectively combat money laundering. While the previous literature focuses on organizations fighting money laundering and on the improvement of anti-money laundering measures, this article illustrates how money launderers operate to avoid arrest. Prevention methods and criminal perspectives are equally taken into account.

The book critically assesses cooperation in the German healthcare sector. In particular, it analyzes the role of bribery and discusses various forms of legal and illegal cooperation with and between healthcare institutions. In this context, it also provides a detailed overview of competition law implications. The book concludes by illustrating the practical role of bribery in the German healthcare sector and provides concrete suggestions for criminal defense lawyers.

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Since the Trump election, the subject of extra-territorial application of national law – in particular U.S. law – has received considerable attention. This is so because the U.S. administration increasingly uses this legal tool to enforce its foreign policy interests. A legal area with a particularly strong reach of extra-territoriality is U.S. export controls as this allows the U.S. to control foreign states’ business. A very recent and vivid example is the Huawei trade ban by the U.S. The purpose of this article is to show the (harsh) legal and economic effects, which the extra-territorial application of U.S. export-related laws have on international trade. The article will focus on the approach taken by the U.S. to impose its export controls outside the U.S. It will analyze the legal framework of extra-territorial U.S. export controls and explore to which extent the U.S. laws apply to foreign business, i.e., business outside the U.S. The article will define the cases in which foreign companies are subject to U.S. export controls and therefore must comply with U.S. regulations. It will show that the applicability of U.S. export controls to foreign companies and their business is considerably broad. It rigorously controls the destiny of U.S. origin products and components once they have been exported from U.S. territory and also regulates the worldwide export of products that have been manufactured by using U.S. technology. In addition, U.S. export controls impose economic sanctions on countries (e.g., Iran) or companies (e.g., Huawei) and prohibit foreign companies from doing business with these sanctioned parties. Understanding U.S. export controls and its extra-territorial reach are a challenge for foreign companies. It is a rather complex legal system that requires deeper knowledge of the underlying concept. However, foreign companies are well advised to comply with U.S. export controls, as the penalties for violations can be severe, including millions of dollars in fines and even imprisonment. In addition, the U.S. may blacklist foreign companies with the effect that business with the U.S. or elsewhere is no longer possible. Therefore, understanding U.S. export controls and its extra-territorial reach is vital to foreign companies.

Coming to terms with discrimination in the workspace (including sexual harassment and racism) as an integral part of compliance in Germany and Switzerland in recent years, profit-oriented companies and non-profit organizations have increasingly had to deal with discrimination, especially sexual assault and racist behavior. This article deals with how these risks can be addressed in compliance management systems, which preventive measures are recommended and which special features should be taken into account when investigating and dealing with such incidents internally.

With the rise of digitalization, myriad new technologies are currently revolutionizing most, if not all, markets. One such technology that is receiving particular attention from businesses, private market participants, the financial sector, and governments alike is the blockchain. Despite its increasing popularity, most jurisdictions currently fail to adequately regulate it, meaning that businesses cannot exploit the full potential of blockchain technology and its various applications. This article explains how blockchains function and delineates their associated compliance risks. Here, particular attention will be paid to both decentralized cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. How decentralized cryptocurrencies could potentially be abused for money laundering, terrorism financing, and corruption purposes will be illustrated, and different legislation and international approaches to dealing with blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies will be highlighted. Lastly, the impact of blockchain technology and its implications for actors in the digitalized economy will be discussed.