Racism and xenophobia: new paradigms on administrative liability for entities (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 121 – Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Luciano Vella)

On November 8 2017, the Chamber of Deputies cast its final vote approving European Law 2017, comprising 30 articles among which there is the introduction, as part of Law Decree 231/01, of article 25-duodecies. In particular, the regulation introduces among the offences detailed in the Law Decree 231 those of Racism and Xenophobia, as per Law 654/75. In fact, the offences under review punish those conducts aimed at spreading propaganda, instigation and incitement founded on “denying, grossly trivializing or condoning the holocaust or crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes”. Breach of this regulation may lead to fines up to a maximum of EUR 1,239,200 as well as to disqualification as per art. 9 of the Law Decree No. 231. In light of the above, the organisational models shall include significant guarantees also safeguarding relationships within the company, so as to prevent that in the internal dynamics among employees, discriminatory situations may occur and/or emerge that could give rise to the offences in hand. In this context, the employer shall, therefore, update the organisational model ensuring the adoption of protocols and/or measures that are specific and adequate to prevent these offences from happening within the work environment.