Economic or corporate criminal law is the collective term for all criminal provisions that criminalise offences in the area of the economy. It is the state’s response to economic crime and it serves to protect the structure of the economic constitution in Germany.

Since the beginning of the 1990s the term has been used with increasing intensity in jurisprudence, legal reality and the public.

The term “economic criminal law” is not defined by law.

The first Economic Criminal Law of 1949 introduced the administrative offences instead of criminal offences, reduced the influence of the administrative authorities, in whose hands until then had often been the control of the economy through regulatory criminal power.

Section 74c of the Courts Constitution Act regulates the jurisdiction of the Economic Criminal Chamber at a regional court.

Which kind of criminal activities are we talking about?

• Fraud
• Corruption
• Insolvency offences
• Criminal tax law
• Infidelity
• Theft of intellectual property
• Infringements of the law on the protection of business secrets
  Offences against the Foreign Trade and Payments Act

Corporate criminal law deals with the criminal liability of legal persons and associations of persons. Do you want to learn more about this topic?

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