Legislative Decree no. 231 dated June 8th, 2001 introduced into the Italian regulation an administrative liability system (substantially comparable to criminal liability) for legal persons, to be added to the liability of the legal person who have materially committed the crime and aiming at involving in sanctions legal persons (Companies and institutions).

The administrative liability of juridical persons for the commission of any of the Crimes envisaged by the Decree is to be added and does not replace the criminal or administrative liability of the individual who is the offender and remains even if the author of the crime has not been identified or if the same crime has been extinguished for a reason other than amnesty.

The juridical person cannot assume the responsibility for the commission of any offense which constitutes a crime, but only for the commission of crimes and administrative offenses provided for by the decree, in the version resulting from the original text and subsequent amendments, as well as laws recalling it expressly.