Commission Proposes New Directive To Step Up Fight Against Corruption

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Law Firm: Schoenherr Attorneys at Law
• Subject Matter: International Law, Criminal Law, Export Controls & Trade & Investment Sanctions, White Collar Crime, Anti-Corruption & Fraud
• Author: Ms Klara Kiehl and Katharina Mydza
• Published date: 26 May 2023

While allegations of corruption continue to make headlines in Austria, the Ministry of Justice responded in January with draft legislation on the Corruption Law Amendment Act 2023. Now, the Commission is proposing a new directive to update and harmonise the EU rules on how to define and punish corruption offences. While the proposal aims to create a level playing field in all Member States in the fight against corruption, mainly by requiring Member States

• to put or have in place bodies in their national law specialised in preventing and repressing corruption;
• to ensure the liability of legal persons, while excluding that such liability is alternative to that of natural persons;
• to regard certain circumstances as aggravating, i.e. if the crime is committed by a high-level official; and
• to regard certain circumstances as mitigating, for instance where offenders provide information or collaborate with authorities, or in the case of legal persons, to have effective internal controls in place,

it also contains several provisions that go beyond Austria's Corruption Law Amendment Act 2023. As a reminder: Besides introducing a stricter regime for "candidates for office" and the prohibition to purchase mandates, i.e. by demanding/offering a fee for the allocation of a mandate for oneself or a third party, the Austrian Corruption Law Amendment Act 2023 also amends the law on the Responsibility of Legal Entities (Verbandsverantwortlichkeitsgesetz; "VbVG"). Under this law, a legal entity can be held criminally...