The law no.2016-1691 imposed on the 9th December 2016 in France, known as the SAPIN II law is related to transparency, fight against corruption and modernization of the economic life. An obligation to be vigilant against the risk of corruption to companies with more than 500 employees and companies with a group of at least 500 employees with a turnover of more than 100 million euros.
What are the sanctions for non-compliance ?
For legal entities :
In France, companies can be found guilty and sentenced to a criminal sanction. Fine for companies are five time the maximum penalties for natural persons. A company guilty of bribing a public official may therefore be ordered to pay a fine of 5 million euros or ten times the proceed of the offence. An administrative penalty of 1 million euros may also be imposed on companies that do not comply wih the measures of the article 17 of the Sapin II law.
An additional compliance penalty is also provided for companies convicted of corruption, notably through the establishment of monitoring (for a maximum period of 5 years). It is up to the company to pay the costs related to monitoring (experts interventions etc…).
For natural persons :
Those convicted of corruption can be sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine of 1 million euros. The facts are condemned in the same way whether it is an attempt of corruption or a proven fact of corruption.
An administrative penalty of 200 000 euros may be imposed on mangers of companies that do not comply with the measures of Article 17 of Sapin II law.
In addition, if a company has been convicted of corruption, then it cannot apply for public procurement in the European Union for a default period of 5 years.
To avoid sanctions, see our article on “How to comply with the Sapin II law ?”
