The Development of Laws on the Criminal Liability of Legal Entities in the Republic of Iceland

The article is devoted to the development of Icelandic legislation on criminal liability of legal entities. The internal and external factors that determined the inclusion of rules on criminal liability of legal entities in Icelandic legislation are analyzed. It is noted that initially the legislative establishment of criminal liability of legal entities occurred through the adoption of laws containing criminal law provisions providing for the liability of individuals and legal entities for certain types of crimes, such as the Law “On Air Transportation” of 1964. In 1998, in order to ensure unity of approaches to determining the criminal liability of legal entities by different legislative acts, the Icelandic Criminal Code was supplemented with a chapter “Criminal liability of legal entities”, the articles of which established general provisions on such liability for crimes both provided for in the criminal code and and other Icelandic laws. It is indicated that the criminal procedural procedure for bringing to justice is common to individuals and legal entities. In 2008, a new Criminal Procedure Law was adopted, which determined that a legal entity brought to criminal liability has the status of an accused and participates in the criminal process through its representatives.