Originäre Verbandsstrafbarkeit

The introduction of genuine criminal liability for corporations has always been ‘fashionable’ in German legal policy. German law currently rejects such criminal liability for corporations because of general objections, such as their lack of a capacity to act and of individual guilt. The new draft law (VerbStrG-E) overcomes these dogmatic hurdles and proposes genuine criminal liability implemented in a new criminal code with substantive and procedural rules. This attempt by the VerbStrG-E has reignited the debate on this issue and taken it to a new level. This study analyses and assesses each provision of the draft law in an overall criminal and civil law context.