Criminal Compliance

Abstract

Compliance is an established concept in modern Austrian legal context, and has become the subject of increasing attention. In this context, it can be considered as compliance with the law or compliance with non-binding regulations codified in codes of conduct. Criminal Compliance means complying with regulations relevant in the area of criminal law. Above all, relevant are the regulations which ought to be complied with to avoid potential criminal responsibility. This sort of regulations do not form part of the formally binding Austrian law regime, and therefore do not directly establish norms applicable in order to determine the criminal responsibility of a corporation. However, consideration should be given to relying upon them indirectly in the process of interpreting the requisite legal criteria to establish criminal responsibility – inter alia in determining whether conduct was taken or omitted recklessly.