Criminal Law

Recent Articles

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  18/04/2024

  United Kingdom

  Transparency: ECCTA 2023 and Register of Overseas Entities update

  The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), which is aimed at tackling economic crime and preventing abuse of corporate structures in the UK, will not only fundamentally reform the administrative requirements for UK companies, limited liability partnerships and limited partnerships generally, but will also expand the requirements of the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) regime for overseas entities holding or acquiring UK real estate.  The ROE is a register at Companies House which came into effect on 1 August 2022. Here are some FAQs providing information about...

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  10/04/2024

  Switzerland

  Federal Council issues preliminary draft of new Administrative Criminal Law Act

  On 31 January 2024, the Swiss Federal Council suggested a total revision of the Administrative Criminal Law Act of 22 March 1974 (ACLA) and issued a preliminary draft including an explanatory report.According to the Federal Council's explanatory report, the total revision of the ACLA will strengthen the rights of the accused. In addition, the ACLA’s procedural rules will be more efficient and modern by aligning with ordinary criminal procedural law as set out in the Swiss Criminal Procedure Code (CrimPC). The provisions of the ACLA, however, will not be incorporated into CrimPC or the Swiss...

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  13/03/2024

  United Kingdom

  Court of Appeal rules that defence of illegality in civil claim is not available if not guilty of criminal offence by reason of insanity

  In Lewis-Ranwell v G4S Health Services (UK) Ltd and others [2024] EWCA Civ 138, the Court of Appeal recently held, by a majority of 2 to 1, that where a person has committed a crime, but has been found not guilty by reason of insanity, the defence of illegality will not prohibit them from claiming damages from those who were responsible for assessing their mental wellbeing at the relevant time.Whilst these circumstances are unusual, they are not novel. This Judgment is particularly important for providers of mental health services and their insurers.Background – Criminal ProceedingsOn 10...

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  12/03/2024

  EU

  EU takes stand against environmental crimes with new Directive

  The escalating problem of environmental degradation is triggering a re-evaluation of our legal systems' effectiveness in preventing and justly sanctioning such harms. Now the EU has taken a significant step towards safeguarding the environment with the adoption by the European parliament of a proposal for a Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law that replaces Directive 2008/99/EC. The intention of the Directive is to establish a robust and unified system for preventing, investigating, and punishing individuals and companies that engage in actions harming the environment.BackgroundTraditionally,...

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  02/01/2024

  England and Wales

  New UK trade sanctions enforcement body

  The Department of Business and Trade has announced the creation of a new trade sanctions enforcement body, the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (“OTSI”). In a speech on Monday 11 December, Trade Minister Nusrat Ghani said:“The Office will build up our trade sanctions capability and make sure our sanctions regimes are as impactful as possible.It will also crack down on companies that breach trade sanctions and so help to facilitate warmongers and tyrants to cling to power. Its remit will include the civil enforcement of trade sanctions, as well as providing guidance...

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  14/12/2023

  England and Wales

  Bribery in the gambling sector: change,“non-leg­al­ity” and grey areas

  For several years the UK authorities, including HMRC, have been investigating allegations of bribery in connection with gambling operations in or relating to Türkiye (the new official name of Turkey). Those under investigation included  GVC Holdings plc, which in 2020 was re-named as Entain Plc.On 5 December 2023, the investigation was resolved by the entry into a “deferred prosecution agreement” (“DPA”) between the Crown Prosecution Service and Entain.  The DPA requires payment  by Entain of penalties, disgorgements and costs totalling £615 million. A...

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