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)

The offenses of forgery and use of forgeries are instantaneous offenses . Therefore, the statute of limitations for public prosecution begins to run, in the case of forgery, from the day the forgery is committed, and in the case of use of forgery, from the day of its criminal use . In the event of multiple acts of use, the statute of limitations runs from the date of each act for which the defenda …

Repression

The offenses of forgery and use of forgeries are instantaneous offenses . Therefore, the statute of limitations for public prosecution begins to run, in the case of forgery, from the day the forgery is committed, and in the case of use of forgery, from the day of its criminal use . In the event of multiple acts of use, the statute of limitations runs from the date of each act for which the defendant relies on the forged document . Thus, the use of a report alleged to be forged in support of counterclaims filed in a civil suit may constitute a new positive act of use, triggering a new statute of limitations . Furthermore, since forgery and its use do not constitute concealed offenses, the starting point of the statute of limitations cannot be postponed to the date the offense became apparent . Similarly, the annulment of the altered document is irrelevant to the constitution of forgery. False typewritten letters submitted in a proceeding that resulted in a judgment remain constitutive of forgery, even though this judgment became null and void due to lack of service .

Pursuant to Article 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the initiation of civil action for compensation for damage caused by the offenses of forgery and use of forgeries is open to all those who have suffered a personal and direct injury . A voter cannot file a civil action for forgery committed in a report recording the results of an electoral vote, as their injury can only be indirect and hypothetical, concerning an infringement on public confidence and social order . Legal entities that have suffered direct injury can also file a civil action. This applies to the bar association for the collective injury suffered by the profession due to a false internship agreement signed by a holder of the certificate of aptitude for the legal profession , sports federations in cases of forgery committed by leaders of a sports group in the course of its management that directly harms the interests they are tasked with defending , the trade union of stamp dealers for the harm to the stamp market resulting from the imitation of a signature in the form of a false stamp on postage stamps and envelopes bearing these stamps , or the regional chamber of bailiffs when forgery has enabled the usurpation of function .

Forgery and the use of forgeries frequently accompany the commission of other offenses. Thus, courts often have to resolve conflicts of classification. While the accumulation of classifications is possible when these offenses do not proceed in an inseparable manner from a single action characterized by a single criminal intent, it is excluded when the use of forgery actually constitutes an element of the second offense or its aggravating circumstance. Thus, in the case of the concurrent commission of fraud and use of forgery, only the classification of fraud is retained, as it suffices to account for all the facts and the fraudulent maneuvers encompass the acts of using forgery. The same applies when the offenses of misuse of corporate assets and use of forgery arise from the same facts of accepting payment for an unfounded invoice. A defendant cannot be prosecuted for the concealment of what they knew originated from a forgery committed by them.

If the regime defined in Article 441-1 of the Criminal Code is common to the different types of forgery, the penalties and aggravating circumstances differ.

Forgery and the use of forgeries in private writing are punishable by three years of imprisonment and a fine of EUR 45,000 (Art. 441-1 Criminal Code). Forgery and the use of administrative forgeries are punishable by five years of imprisonment and a fine of EUR 75,000 (Art. 441-2, para. 1 and 2, Criminal Code), and when committed by a person vested with public authority or entrusted with a public service mission acting in the exercise of their functions, habitually or with the intent to facilitate the commission of a crime or to provide impunity to its author, the penalties are increased to seven years of imprisonment and a fine of EUR 100,000 (Art. 441-2, para. 3, Criminal Code).

Forgery and the use of forgery in public or authentic writing are punishable by ten years' imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros (Art. 441-4, para. 1, Criminal Code), and when committed by a person vested with public authority or entrusted with a public service mission acting in the exercise of their functions or mission, the penalties are increased to fifteen years of criminal imprisonment and a fine of 225,000 euros (Art. 441-4, para. 2, Criminal Code) .

The falsification of a certificate or an attestation is punishable by one year of imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 EUR (Art. 441-7 para. 1 Criminal Code), and when the offense is committed with the intent to harm the public treasury or the property of others, the penalties are increased to three years of imprisonment and a fine of EUR 45,000 (Art. 441-7 para. 2 Criminal Code).

Furthermore, the attempt of forgery and use of forgery is specifically punished by the legislator in Article 441-9 of the Criminal Code for these four types of forgery, and the additional penalties in Articles 441-10 and 441-11 of the Criminal Code are likewise commonly applicable to these offenses.

Finally, legal entities can also be held criminally liable for forgery and use of forgeries. They face, in addition to a fine equal to five times that provided for natural persons, the penalties provided by Article 131-39 of the Criminal Code (Art. 441-12 Criminal Code). Furthermore, the legislator specifies that the prohibition to directly or indirectly engage in one or more professional or social activities (Art. 131-39, 2° Criminal Code) applies to the activity during or on the occasion of which the offense was committed (Art. 441-12, para. 2, Criminal Code).

Cass. crim., 3 May 1993, LawLex202300003322JBJ.

Cass. crim., 27 May 1991, LawLex202300003323JBJ.

Cass. crim., 5 January 1971, LawLex202200010706JBJ.

Cass. crim., 20 May 2009, LawLex202300003196JBJ.

Cass. crim., 12 February 2025, LawLex202500001017JBJ, holding that the fact that a notary has been disciplinarily sanctioned for breaches of professional obligations does not prevent these same facts from giving rise to criminal proceedings if they are likely to constitute offenses.

Cass. crim., 30 March 1999, LawLex202300003324JBJ; 19 January 2000, LawLex202300003205JBJ, which specifies that documents alleged to be forgeries, after being submitted to the trial court file, which had been invoked in conclusions regularly filed at various stages of the civil trial in question, constitute a new positive fact of use; 9 September 2020, LawLex202200010464JBJ.

Cass. crim., 2 June 2021, LawLex202200010507JBJ.

Cass. crim., 25 May 2004, LawLex202300003204JBJ.

Cass. crim., 4 November 2021, LawLex202200009631JBJ.

Cass. crim., 20 June 2002, LawLex202300003326JBJ, which reiterates that for a complaint to be declared admissible, the alleged damage must result directly from the offenses of breach of trust, forgery, and use of forgeries attributed to the defendant.

Cass. crim 23 May 1977, LawLex202300003206JBJ.

Cass. crim., 17 December 2008, LawLex202300003195JBJ.

Cass. crim., 15 May 1997, LawLex202300003325JBJ.

White Collar Crime (en cours)

166. Repression

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

166. Repression

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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