The act of “rethinking” corruption is necessary due to a global stagnation after more than two decades of international anticorruption efforts. The issue of corruption is being reframed as a security issue, rather than a developmental one, but the role international agency play in changing a country is still prominent. This article sums up the lessons learned from theoretical and practical advances outlined in the author’s book on “Rethinking Corruption.” It makes a clear argument in favour of rethinking corruption outside the traditional framework and offers a forecasting method, alongside state-of-the-art analytical, fact-based tools to map, assess, and predict corruption risks.
The author argues that corruption is a policy issue frequently overriding individual choice, and can only be tackled by strong policy interventions. She explains the limits of international intervention and demonstrates how much unfinished business was left behind by the developmental approach to anticorruption – business that can only be … Read more

This article features the summary of the EU-funded ParTFin project. The full report can be downloaded below and separately cited by using a unique DOI number (10.30709/eucrim-2023-031). The project aimed at providing guidance for policymakers, competent authorities, and obliged entities on how to ensure that public-private information-sharing mechanisms in the field of financial crime can operate effectively and at the same time align with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

This article refers to the Polish anti-corruption law and the new European Commission proposal for a Directive on combating corruption. It aims at analysing the Polish provisions currently in force in light of the Commission proposal. Against the background of the anticipated new EU legal instruments, the author points out the most significant loopholes in Polish law hindering an effective fight against corruption. The analysis carried out in the article indicates, in particular, that there is a high need to modify the Polish legal framework as regards the liability of collective entities for offences. Compliance measures need to be adopted. In addition, the author advocates putting in place preventive measures and effectively penalizing corruption in the private sector in Poland.

The anti-corruption package presented by the European Commission in May 2023 reaffirms the priority given to combating corruption crimes in the EU. In response to the current disharmony and fragmentation of national legal systems, the proposal for a new EU Directive on combating corruption calls for greater alignment at the European level. By applying the EU’s “non-exclusive” competence in criminal matters, serious corruption offenses will be countered on a shared basis, also in view of their potential cross-border dimension. The authors argue, however, that there are provisions in the proposed directive that raise serious doubts as to the adherence to the principle of proportionality, the tendency to largely equalize responses to corruption in the public and private sectors, and the preservation of basic principles of criminal law, such as legality and the degree of certainty required for offences.

This article outlines the targeted amendment of the PIF Directive proposed in the Commission’s legislative initiative for a Directive on Combating Corruption, which was tabled in May 2023. The targeted amendment seeks to align the PIF Directive with the standards set out in said anti-corruption proposal. The areas of alignment are sanctions for natural and legal persons, aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and limitation periods. The amendment is designed to ensure respect for the principle of equivalence and effective protection of the EU’s financial interests, as laid down in Art. 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Systems theory has been criticized in literature on the analysis of organizations and groups of people. Its weaknesses include the lack of ontological support and the absence of evidence demonstrating the validity of its premises. Since Spain incorporated the criminal liability of legal entities into its criminal code as a means of combating corporate crime and corruption, however, the Spanish Supreme Court has been resorting to systems theory to determine when a legal person should be punished.
This article analyzes the serious practical problems that this approach entails, especially when certain complex legal-criminal issues are being dealt with. In addition to the conflicts that arise concerning the principle of legality, systems theory lacks a solid methodology to resolve two questions that emerge in corporate reality: 1) determination of the non-liability of certain legal entities, and 2) clarification of the (in)appropriateness of the criminal punishment of legal persons resulting from and arising … Read more