At the hearing on 28 October 2021, the Constitutional Court, in the context of the review of the laws subsequent to the promulgation, unanimously upheld the exception of unconstitutionality and found that the provisions of the second sentence of Article 137 (3), referring to the expression ‘turnover’, in the Criminal Code were unconstitutional.
Article 137 is entitled — ‘Determination of the fine for legal entities’, and the second sentence of paragraph (3) provides: ‘[…] the amount corresponding to a day-fine shall be determined taking into account the turnover, in the case of profit making legal entities, and the value of the assets in the case of other legal entities, as well as the other obligations of legal entities’.
The Court found that the definition of ‘turnover’ is not included in Title X — Meaning of Certain Terms or Expressions in Criminal Law, of the General Part of the Criminal Code. Therefore, the criminal law in force does not determine the meaning of the term ‘turnover’ in relation to which the court determines the amount corresponding to a day-fine when the fine is established for profit making legal entities. The definitions of ‘turnover’ in the field of taxation and competition are narrowly applicable, specialising in the matters specified, since their translation into criminal matters in order to determine the amount corresponding to a day-fine where the fine is set for the profit-making legal person is contrary to the principle of legality.
At the same time, the Court found that the criminal rule complained of is also incomplete as regards the determination/retention, from a temporal point of view, of the turnover of the profit-making legal person in relation to which the court determines the amount corresponding to a day-fine.
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External Relations, Press and Protocol Department of the Constitutional Court