The Laws of Portugal on the Criminal Liability of Legal Entities

The article is devoted to the Portuguese legislation on criminal liability of legal entities. The issues of formation of the Portuguese criminal legislation and inclusion of norms on criminal liability of legal entities in it are considered. It is noted that in Portugal the criminal legislation is only partially codified – in addition to the criminal code there are other legislative acts (laws and decree-laws) containing criminal law norms. For the first time the criminal liability of legal entities was provided for by a decree-law in 1984 for crimes in the economic sphere. The general conditions for bringing legal entities to criminal liability provided for by this legislative act, as well as the main criminal penalties for legal entities established by it are considered: warning, fine and liquidation. A brief description of the laws providing for criminal liability for tax and terrorist crimes is given.