By Carmen Zarzo. From the LO 5 / 2010 Spain introduces the criminal responsibility of legal persons with respect to crimes committed in their name or on their behalf, as well as the obligation for companies to provide themselves with a system of supervision and control of regulatory compliance.
But it is not until the entry into force, on July 1, 2015, of Law 1/2015, of March 30, when the new wording of the Penal Code that contains the current regime of criminal responsibility of legal persons is approved. modify art 31 bis to introduce the requirements and objectives of the compliance programs aimed at guaranteeing the avoidance of commission of crimes within business organizations.
The art. 31 bis CP calls them “organizational and management models that include the appropriate surveillance and control measures to prevent crimes of the same nature or to significantly reduce the risk of their commission ”o "Models of organization and prevention". But they are also called compliance programs or crime prevention programs (PPD) and in Anglo-Saxon terms, where both their essence and the term that defines them comes from, they are called compliance programs.
The implementation of compliance programs in accordance with the provisions of the 2015 Law and the analysis that the Courts and the State Attorney General's Office have been carrying out, can exempt the company in which the commission is committed from criminal responsibility. crime, or lessen the penalty imposed, depending on the circumstances surrounding the commission of the specific crime.
The new Penal Code establishes that the company:
- It has the obligation to prevent the commission of crimes within it, as well as to communicate the commission of the same to the authorities.
- You can become responsible for crimes committed by your representatives or by your employees.
- It can exempt and / or mitigate criminal responsibility for committing a crime within it, with the adoption and execution of a compliance program.
However, the requirements established, as we say, must be met both in the law and in the case law for the development and implementation of effective compliance programs.
