Text file: 536.txt
author: alibro
downvotes: 1
end consideration date: 2010-04-03
id: '536'
number comments: 10
number views: 4828
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of Justice\nOn 29.3.2010, the Ministry of Justice\
  \ received Proposal 536, which proposes to write criminal provisions (offences)\
  \ into a specific law, stating that the fine shall be levied up to ten per cent\
  \ of the annual turnover of the company in the preceding financial year. The position\
  \ of the Ministry of Justice is set out below.\n \nI. CURRENT REGIME IN THE LAW\
  \ ON MISDEMEANOURS\nArticle 17 of the Law on Misdemeanours (Official Journal of\
  \ the Republic of Slovenia, No 3/07 - official consolidated text, 17/08, 21/08 -\
  \ corrected, 76/08 - ZIKS-1C, 108/09 and 109/09 - Decision of the Constitutional\
  \ Court of the Republic of Slovenia, hereinafter: the Law on Misdemeanours) provides\
  \ that a fine is to be imposed in a range or in a specified amount. However, that\
  \ Article also regulates specific cases of setting fines:\n  Article 17(5) of the\
  \ Act on Misdemeanours provides that, in the case of offences in the field of competition\
  \ protection, a fine of up to ten per cent of the annual turnover or the turnover\
  \ of the undertakings in the group in the preceding business year may be prescribed\
  \ by law (imposition of fines on legal persons, sole proprietors or individuals\
  \ engaged in an activity on their own account), provided that the provisions of\
  \ paragraphs 17(2), 17(3) and 17(6) of the Act on Misdemeanours shall not apply\
  \ to the determination of the fine. The second paragraph of Article 17(3) of the\
  \ Act on Misdemeanours, pursuant to Article 17(6) of the Act on Misdemeanours. Article\
  \ 17, paragraph 17, of the Act on Misdemeanours, and Article 17, paragraph 17, of\
  \ the Act on Misdemeanours for the most serious violations in the field of protection\
  \ of natural resources, environment and nature conservation, protection of cultural\
  \ heritage, protection against natural and other disasters, occupational health\
  \ and safety, work and illegal employment, labour relations, social protection,\
  \ taxes, excise duties, customs, finance, competition protection, State commodity\
  \ reserves and restrictive measures, it shall be permissible to impose a fine three\
  \ times higher than that provided for in the second and third paragraphs of Article\
  \ 17(2) and (3) for individual offences, the nature of which is particularly serious\
  \ because of the amount of the damage caused or the amount of the unlawful economic\
  \ advantage obtained or because of the perpetrator's intent or the intent to benefit\
  \ from the proceeds of crime. Article 17, paragraph 17, of the Offences Act.\n \n\
  II. SUITABILITY OR UNSUITABILITY OF THE PROPOSAL\nSince Article 17(6) of the Offences\
  \ Act allows the legislator to set fines three times higher for the most serious\
  \ infringements in the field of labour law, we consider that the competent ministries\
  \ have an adequate legal basis for taking into account the nature and gravity of\
  \ individual infringements in the draft laws they are preparing and for setting\
  \ the level of the fine accordingly. This is also made possible by the general minima\
  \ and maxima in Article 17(2) and (3) of the Offences Act, as the maxima are quite\
  \ high. Last but not least, it should be borne in mind that the nature of offences\
  \ is not identical and that the fine should be determined taking this circumstance\
  \ into account. Hence the special regime for offences in the field of tax, excise\
  \ and customs duties and competition protection.\nThe Ministry of Justice considers\
  \ that the current regime in Article 17 of the Law on Misdemeanours, which regulates\
  \ the fine as the main sanction for an offence, is appropriate, as it sufficiently\
  \ takes into account the diversity of offences, and the provisions of that Article\
  \ allow for the imposition of fines not only in a range or a fixed amount, but also\
  \ in multiples or percentages. If, on the basis of concrete offence proceedings,\
  \ it becomes apparent that the current regime does not have an adequate deterrent\
  \ effect and that the percentage fines should be supplemented by offences in other\
  \ areas of law, the Ministry of Justice will prepare amendments to Article 17 of\
  \ the Offences Act."
response date: 2010-04-06
response due date: null
sent date: 2010-03-05
title: Criminal - offence provisions of laws
upvotes: 27
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/536
