European Developements in Corporate Criminal Liability

When corporations carry on their business in a grossly negligent manner, or take a cavalier approach to risk management, the consequences can be catastrophic. The harm may be financial, as occurred when such well-regarded companies as Enron, Lehman Brothers, Worldcom and Barings collapsed, or it may be environmental, as illustrated most recently by the Gulf oil spill. Sometimes deaths and serious injuries on a mass scale occur, as in the Bhopal gas disaster, the Chernobyl nuclear explosion, the Paris crash of the Concorde, the capsize of the Herald of Free Enterprise, and rail crashes at Southall, Paddington and Hatfield in England.What role can the law play in preventing such debacles and in punishing the corporate offenders? This collection of thematic papers and European country reports addresses these questions at both a theoretical and empirical level. The thematic papers analyse corporate criminal liability from a range of academic disciplines, including law, sociology/criminology, economics, philosophy and environmental studies, whilst the country reports look at the laws of corporate crime throughout Europe, highlighting both common features and irreconcilable differences between the various jurisdictions.

Preface by Michael Smythe, Partner and Head of Public Policy, and Clifford Chance, LLP Part I: Thematic Issues 1. Containing Corporate Crime: Civil or Criminal Controls? by Celia Wells 2. A Legal Person’s Conscience: Philosophical Underpinnings of Corporate Criminal Liability by Ana-Maria Pascal 3. The Challenges of Regulating Powerful Economic Actors by Laureen Snider and Steven Bittle 4. State Complicity in the Production of Corporate Crime by Steve Tombs 5. Penalising Corporate 'Culture': The Key to Safer Corporate Activity? by Rick Sarre Part II: Organisational v. Individual Liability 6. The Organisational Component in Corporate Crime by Maurice Punch 7. Individual Liability of Company Officers by Neil Foster 8. Squaring the Circle: The Relationship between Individual and Organisational Liability by James Gobert Part III: Particular Offences 9. Environmental Offending, Regulation and 'The Legislative Balancing Act' by Nigel South 10. Investigating Safety Crimes in Finland by Anne Kaarina Alvesalo-Kuusi 11. Financial Crime and Litigation: Aftermath of Shadow Banking and Subprime Crisis by Sheri Markose 12. Concluding Observations by Kier Starmer, QC (Director of Public Prosecutions) Part IV: Country Reports 13. Austria by Professor Ingrid Mitgutsch 14. Belgium by Amanda Jane Struby 15. Czech Republic by Melanie Ramkissoon 16. Denmark by Melanie Ramkissoon 17. Estonia by TBC 18. Finland by Dr Anne Kaarina Alvesalo-Kuusi 19. France by Pascal Beauvais 20. Germany by Klaus Rogall 21. Italy by Cristina de Maglie 22. Ireland by Edward Fitzgerald 23. Lithuania by Deividas Soloveicikas 24. Luxembourg by Janis Dillon 25. Netherlands by Melanie Ramkissoon 26. Poland by TBC 27. Portugal by TBC 28. Romania by Ana-Maria Pascal 29. Slovenia by Janis Dillon 30. Spain by Melanie Rankissoon 31. Sweden by Tom Alexander Burton 32. UK by James Gobert