On 1st January 2012, the law on criminal liability of legal persons and proceedings against them came into force in the Czech Republic. It means that whole companies can now be prosecuted for nearly eighty different crimes. Courts will be able to impose fines, seize corporate property, prohibit companies from receiving grants or - in case of serious misconducts - even to completely abolish companies.
Company prosecution can be initiated when its executive director, manager or employee commits a crime and even in cases when particular offender cannot be identified. The new law should contribute to the fight against organized crime and corruption. The change was also necessary because of Czech obligations towards the EU or the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The law had to be approved twice by the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic after the first veto of President Vaclav Klaus. Klaus saw the law more as a buck-passing than as a desire to punish people guilty of specific crimes. Czech Chamber of Commerce and some lawyers pointed to the danger of such abuses, too.
The whole Act No. 418/2011 Coll. was published in the Official Gazette distributed on 22nd December 2011.
-kk-