e24702_SN008
Translated from French
14
CHAPTER X: CRIMINAL LIABILITY
Article 431-62
Legal entities other than the State, local authorities and public establishments shall be
held criminally liable for the offenses set out in the present Law, where committed on
their behalf by their organs or representatives.
Where legal entities are held liable, this shall not rule out the liability of the natural
persons who committed or were complicit in the same acts.
The penalties incurred by legal entities shall be:
(1) a fine, the maximum amount of which shall be five times that imposed on natural
persons by the law establishing the penalty for the offense;
(2) dissolution, where the legal entity has been established for the purpose of committing
the criminal acts in question or, in the case of a crime or misdemeanor for which natural
persons are liable to a prison term of more than five (5) years, where it has been diverted
from its purpose in order to commit said acts;
(3) a prohibition, either permanent or for a period of up to five (5) years, on carrying out,
directly or indirectly, one or more professional or social activities;
(4) closure, either permanent or for a period of up to five (5) years, of one or more of the
establishments of the company used to commit the criminal acts;
(5) exclusion from public procurement, permanently or for a period of up to five (5)
years;
(6) a prohibition, either permanent or for a period of up to five (5) years, on making a
public offering;
(7) a prohibition for a period of up to five (5) years on issuing checks other than those
that allow the drawer to withdraw funds from the drawee or those that are certified, and
on using payment cards;
(8) confiscation of the item used or intended to be used to commit the offense, or of the
proceeds of the offense;
(9) display of the verdict handed down or publication thereof either in the press or by
any electronic means of communication to the public.
Article 431-63
With the exception of press-related offenses committed via the Internet, the crimes,
misdemeanors and infringements set out in book III, title I, chapter IV, section IV, of the