Introduction

Matrix organization

Mergers by absorption

Risks related to the expansion of the scope of criminal liability of legal entities

Validity conditions

Proof of delegation

Exemption from individual liability of delegator

Attribution of offense to legal entity

Delegations of authority

Criminal risk management within business organizations

Complicity in crimes against humanity

Breaches of secrecy

Personal data breaches

Theft

Extortion

Blackmail

Fraud

Misappropriation

Receiving/concealment of unlawfully obtained property (recel)

Attacks on automated data processing systems

Money laundering

Misappropriation by public official (concussion)

Corruption and influence peddling

Unlawful acquisition of an interest

Favoritism

Forgery and use of forgeries

Violation of Criminal Code

Offenses under the Monetary and Financial Code

Offenses under the Commercial Code

Environmental Code violations

Offenses arising from other codes

Types of offenses

Offenses under the Criminal Code, the Commercial Code, or the Environmental Code, Criminal procedure

White Collar Crime (en cours)

Corruption consists of an agreement between two individuals, the corruptor and the corrupted, who agree to abusively exploit a public or private function in order to obtain an undue advantage. It thus involves two distinct elements, neither of which can be considered incidental to the other and which must therefore be classified separately: one as passive corruption, when viewed from the perspective of the corrupted party, and the other as active corruption, when viewed from the perspective of the corrupter .

The offense of public corruption has existed in the French legislative framework since the Napoleonic Code of 1810, which criminalized it in former Articles 177 to 183 . Laws No 92-686 of 22 July 1992 and No 92-1336 of 16 December 1992 repealed these texts and established current Articles 432-11, 1° and 433-1, 1° . Article 432-11 punishes the act of a public official who solicits or accepts, without right, at any time, directly or indirectly, offers, promises, gifts, presents, or any advantages for themselves or for others, in order to perform or refrain from performing an act of their function, or an act facilitated by their function (passive corruption of public officials). Article 433-1 punishes the act of an individual who obtains or attempts to obtain, without right, at any time, directly or indirectly, from a public official, in exchange for offers, promises, gifts, presents, or advantages, that they perform or refrain from performing an act of their function, or facilitated by it (active corruption of public officials).

The texts have been reformed many times  to adapt the national framework to international conventions against corruption, such as the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of  27 January 1999 and its additional protocol of 15 May 2003, as well as the 2003 United Nations Convention against Corruption signed in New York.

The notion of public official encompasses a wide variety of participants, prompting the legislator to establish, alongside the ordinary law offense, a specific set of rules for magistrates, jurors, or any other person sitting in a judicial body, or the exiliiary staff of those courts (Art. 434-9 of the Criminal Code), persons holding public authority, entrusted with a public service mission, or vested with a public elective mandate in a foreign state or within an international public organization (Art. 435-1 to 435-4 of the Criminal Code), or persons exercising judicial functions in a foreign state or in an international court, as well as the auxiliaries of these jurisdictions (Art. 435-7 and 435-9 of the Criminal Code). The General Code of Local Authorities (Art. L. 2223-35), the Public Health Code (Art. L. 1453-3 to L. 454-8), and the Customs Code (Art. 59) also contain provisions punishing corruption within their scope.

Although corruption primarily targets public officials, the legislature also intended to crack down on the corruption among individuals not holding a public function. Initially, a version of the offense of private corruption was established in former Article L. 152-6 of the Labor Code. The text exclusively targeted directors or employees who solicited or accepted, unbeknownst to and without the authorization of their employer, offers, promises, gifts, presents, discounts, or bonuses, to perform or refrain from performing an act of their function or facilitated by it , such as an employee of a property management company receiving valuable items exceeding customary gifts in exchange for granting advantages , or a prosthetist in a rehabilitation center who encouraged the center's patients to have their prostheses made by a colleague, using molds made by the prosthetist and who, in exchange for this service, received a kickback .

Subsequently, Law No 2005-750 of 4 July 2005 , which transposes a framework decision of the Council of the European Union of 22 July 2003 , repealed this text and established, in Articles 445-1 to 445-4 of the Criminal Code, the corruption of private individuals. These rules were supplemented by the law of 1 February 2012 , which added Articles 445-1-1 and 445-2-1 into the Criminal Code on the corruption of participants in sporting events or horse races that are subject to betting.

Cass. crim., 6 June 2011, No 00-00.000, LawLex202200003381JBJ.

“Correctionalization” procedure (prosecution by criminal court) by the Law of 16 March 1943.

Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA of the European Union of 22 July 2003 on combating corruption in the private sector.

Law No 2012-158 of 1 February 2012 aimed at strengthening ethics in sports and the rights of athletes, OJ of 2 February 2012, Art. 9.

Law No 2000-595 of 30 June 2000 amending the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the fight against corruption, OJ 151 of 1 July 2000; Law No. 2007-1598 of 13 November 2007 relating to the fight against corruption, OJ 264 of 14 November 2007.

A clerk at the registry, an expert, a conciliator, a mediator, an arbitrator.

This includes the bodies created under the Treaty on European Union pursuant to Article 435-5 of the Criminal Code.

Law No 92-1336 of 16 December 1992, Art. 236, OJ of 23 December 1992.

Cass. crim., 22 June 1999, LawLex202200010750JBJ.

Cass. crim., 19 June 2013, LawLex202200001441JBJ.

Law No 2005-750 of 4 July 2005 on various provisions for adaptation to Community law in the field of justice, OJ of 6 July 2005.

115. Concept