The criminal liability of a legal entity

The criminal liability of a legal entity is a new notion in the modern law system and its implementation is the result of the attempt to create better law preconditions for the fight against corporate and organised crime. The second important reason in our case for the legal regulation of this social segment is the condition of the European Union for abolishing visas for the citizens of Serbia. This is certainly one of the ways how Serbia can improve its bad image regarding the level of corruption in the country. The law is adjusted to the legal standards contained in the international documents as well as to the Recommendations number R(88) of the 18 Committees of the EU Council of Ministers in relation to the liability of the company, that is the liability of legal entities for felonies committed under their business and corporate activities. Since legal entities are often involved in committing felonies, for example in human trafficking, it is necessary to create legal possibilities to initiate a lawsuit against them. The law is based on the basic assumption that legal entities are criminally liable for a felony committed within their business, in their name or under their authority, by their managers and for their interest. The liability of the legal entity is based on the offence of the responsible person as well as on the intention of the legal entity to gain interest. The state, the public authorities and institutions are excluded from this criminal liability. The law features substantive and procedural law clauses as well as the clauses related to the realisation of the sanctions and safety measures. Sanctions consist of sentence, probation sentence and safety measures. The penalty can be the fine or the dissolution of the legal entity. The legal consequences of the verdict indicated by the law can be classified into the ones by which certain rights are lost or the ones by which the acquisition of certain rights is prohibited. Initiating single lawsuit proceedings and passing a single verdict for the same felony against the legal entity as well as against the responsible person is the general principle of the law. The enacted law presupposes not only the liabilities of the local legal entities but also of the foreign legal entities for the felonies committed on the territory of the Republic of Serbia.