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When arbitration meets crime – Inaugural conference, São Paulo 2024

January 2024 saw the first When arbitration meets crime Conference, held in São Paulo, Brazil and co-presented by the IBA Arbitration Committee, the IBA Business Crime Committee, the IBA Criminal Law Committee, the IBA Asset Recovery Committee the IBA Litigation Committee and the IBA Latin America Regional Forum.

Released on Feb 27, 2024

IBA Criminal Law Section at the 2023 IBA Annual Conference, Paris

The IBA’s Annual Conference took place between 29 October and 3 November 2023 in Paris, France. As always, the Conference – the IBA’s largest event with some 10,000 participants from the legal profession – was a great opportunity to catch up with acquaintances and forge new links within the criminal law community and beyond.

Released on Feb 27, 2024

Lookback at Boston: IBA Transnational Crime Conference 2023

A report of the 25th Transnational Crime Conference, held 3–5 May 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Released on Jul 18, 2023

Internal investigations: recent developments

More and more over the recent years, with a trend that has crossed the borders of common law jurisdictions and has reached those of civil law, criminal law is becoming not only a matter of judicial defence of a case but also, especially in the corporate world, a matter of preventing misconducts and, in the case of those that have been committed, a matter of prompt and effective collection of items of evidence for their ascertainment.

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Ten questions that commonly arise when conducting employee investigations

Ten questions that commonly arise when conducting employee investigations: different considerations in interviews solely for disciplinary proceedings versus those assessing whether criminal or regulatory misconduct has occurred

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Internal investigations and the many issues posed by Turkish law

Turkish law presents several issues to consider when designing and executing internal investigations, differing from European Union or United States law in some key areas.

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Internal investigations in Switzerland: recent developments

Abstract This article aims at providing an overview of certain key issues that arise in the ambit of internal investigations in Switzerland. In particular, it discusses whistleblowing, data privacy, employment and client identification considerations, as well as legal privilege, before examining the role of penalty orders as an instrument in the resolution of investigations.

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Internal investigations: recent developments in Spain

The authors briefly analyse the guidelines set forth by the Spanish Supreme Court’s Criminal Section on the control and monitoring of corporate electronic devices and communication channels in the framework of an internal investigation, as well as the criminal liability regime of a company’s director when

Released on Sep 2, 2022

The possibility to enter into a non-prosecution agreement in cases of internal investigation and self–reporting

In the case of an internal investigation, it is generally possible to enter a non-prosecution agreement. If as result of an internal investigation, a criminal offence is discovered, the corporation should submit the criminal application with all collected evidence during the process of internal investigation to the prosecutor’s office.

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Internal investigations: the impact of the transposition of the EU Whistleblowing Directive

Currently, the public attention in Romania focuses on the law on the protection of whistleblowers transposing the European Union Directive 2019/1937 (the ‘Whistleblowing Directive’ or the ‘Directive’) into national law, given that this new legislation will bring many obligations to companies conducting internal investigations.

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Internal corporate investigations in Poland: key aspects, specificity

The article concerns key aspects of conducting internal investigations in Poland, taking into account legal frameworks, evidence gathering process and risks related to investigative activities.

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Internal investigations: recent developments in New Zealand

This short article provides an overview of the New Zealand approach to regulatory and similar investigations. Those are typically undertaken by a business in relation to some trigger which brings to light a regulatory problem, ethical challenge, or other misconduct (even potentially criminal behaviour). An internal investigation might take place on its own, or in parallel with an external regulatory investigation which the business must also deal with.

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Recent developments regarding internal investigations conducted by attorneys-at-law in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, internal investigations can be conducted by a company’s attorney-at-law, as long as the attorney-at-law respects his or her rules of professional conduct. Recent developments did, in this regard, reveal risks for the

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Permitted foreign investigative activities (and powers of investigators in general) in Luxembourg, and legal privilege

Luxembourg has long been (wrongly) seen and painted by its opponents as an opaque jurisdiction where investigations rarely yield results. While this reputation may not have been totally undeserved in the last century (even if that is debatable), since the early 2000s, Luxembourg has seriously tightened its framework and should now definitely lose this reputation.

Released on Sep 2, 2022

Legal privilege in the context of internal investigations

In the organisation and conduct of an internal investigation in a company, the profile relating to the confidentiality, preservation and protection of its contents and findings, with respect to the interference of the judicial authority or third parties, is of particular importance, where criminal proceedings already exist, as well in the event that they can be instituted.

Released on Sep 1, 2022

Data protection considerations in internal investigations

When conducting an internal investigation, which includes a review of employees’ emails among its activities, various constraints regarding labour law and privacy issues must be taken into account. In Italy, the matter is governed by several provisions of different statutes all of which have to be taken into account and have an impact on the way internal investigations and emails review must be carried out.

Released on Sep 1, 2022

The possibility to enter into a non-prosecution agreement in case of internal investigation and self-reporting

While in the United States judicial system NPAs between companies and Public Prosecutors Offices are widely used in the criminal proceeding against corporations, in Italy, this mechanism of pre-trial diversion is not provided for by law, but there is a glimpse of an opening of the Public Prosecutor's Offices toward informal interlocutions with companies.

Released on Sep 1, 2022

Internal investigations: There is no escaping anymore!

Whistleblowing complaints on financial, ethical, and legal issues are on the rise in India. With the law not having evolved at the same pace, it has created even more uncertainties in the regulatory environment. However, consciously, many Indian corporates have adapted and changed gears, ushering in a new mindset, and incorporating policies to achieve the broader objective of ‘no fraud-no corruption’.

Released on Sep 1, 2022

Non-prosecution agreement under French law: self reporting and internal investigation are expected

The adoption of Law 2016-1691 of 9 December 2016 on transparency, the fight against corruption and the modernisation of economic life, known as ‘Sapin II’, was a milestone in the field of negotiated justice since it introduced

Released on Sep 1, 2022

The framework of internal corporate investigations in Brazil – between the best practices and the lack of regulation

The growing complexity of societal structures and their respective schemes for financial crimes have put a spotlight in compliance programs and internal investigations in the past decades. In Brazil, one must navigate a scarcely regulated environment to conduct an internal corporate investigation.

Released on Sep 1, 2022

Recent developments in internal investigations: Argentina

Although internal investigations remain largely unregulated in Argentina, they are generally admitted by criminal courts as a legitimate means for collection of evidence and supporting criminal charges and/or civil complaints.

Released on Sep 1, 2022

Internal investigations: recent developments

An interview with Claudio Visco, IBA Secretary General. In this interview, Claudio discusses the impact of the rise in internal investigations on the global legal landscape and the challenges they face, drawing upon his experiences in managing corporate investigations.

Released on Sep 1, 2022

Environmental criminal law in the French legal framework

Current events around the world are a constant reminder to us all of the urgent need to prevent further environmental damage and halt climate change, and to consider a more efficient form of environmental justice. In this context, the tools of environmental criminal law must be reshaped to be more accessible, faster and deterrent.

Released on Jun 27, 2022

The abyss and the moon: symbolic criminal jurisprudence in Peru

Criminal law is a form of social control that seeks to preserve essential legal assets by protecting societal norms, which in turn are composed of several subsystems. Thus, for example, the special criminal offences described in the Penal Code include crimes that have to do with integrity and personal freedom, among them crimes of corruption of officials and economic crimes

Released on Dec 13, 2021

Ukrainian jury trials in criminal cases: reasons behind their inefficiency and suggestions for improvement

The jury system is quite common worldwide. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom and United States, trial by jury has been in place for hundreds of years, while many other jurisdictions have only begun involving jurors to justice relatively recently or are in the process of developing or implementing this institution. Trial by jury in Ukraine dates back to as recently as 2012 with the adoption of the new Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (CPC) by Ukraine’s parliament. The Ukrainian jury belongs to a mixed system where cases are heard by two professional judges and three jurors, and the decision is made by a simple majority of votes.

Released on Oct 28, 2021

CJIP and CRPC: the limits of negotiated criminal justice under French law

On 26 February 2021, in a case of active bribery of public officials and breach of trust in Togo, in which a French group had been prosecuted since 2012, the Paris Criminal Court unexpectedly refused to approve the guilty pleas (comparutions sur reconnaissance préalable de culpabilité or CRPC). The pleas had been accepted by the three individuals: the chairman and the CEO of the group and the international director of a subsidiary of the group. Instead, the court approved the judicial interest agreement (Convention judiciaire d’intérêt public or CJIP, the French DPA) for the legal entity, which will have to pay a public interest fine and for two years, undertake the cost of an anti-corruption compliance programme under the supervision of the French Anti-corruption Agency (the AFA).

Released on Oct 28, 2021

The criminal liability of legal persons: the issue of dissolution

The courts have had few occasions to rule on the grounds that extinguish the criminal liability of a legal person since such liability was added to the Spanish Criminal Code (SCC). The question of whether or not criminal liability should be transferred to a legal person who has neither participated nor had any involvement in the offence raises important technical problems from the point of view of the principle of culpability.

Released on Oct 28, 2021

A case for the creation of a harmonised European remedy against abusive SIS alerts

Over the past few years, the European Union (EU) has seen an intensification of the attacks on the independence of several Member States’ judicial authorities. In reaction, EU institutions and jurisdictions have endeavoured to sanction some of these Member States through a number of actions or decisions. Most recently, within one week of each other, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) criticised the lack of independence and impartiality of the disciplinary chamber of the Polish Supreme Court.

Released on Oct 28, 2021

Trusts and French courts: a continuing misunderstanding

By Emmanuel Moyne, Geoffroy Goubin and Léa Zimmermann. Trusts and French courts: a continuing misunderstanding - Criminal Law/Business Crime Committees.

Environment and compliance: new fertile ground in the EU?

By Thomas Lapierre, Martin Méric and Julie Zorrilla. Environment and compliance: new fertile ground in the EU? - Criminal Law/Business Crime Committees.