Damage to cultural and landscape assets: when the company is liable too

A company is liable where the damaging of a cultural or landscape asset is committed in its interest or to its advantage by its representatives or staff. Since 2022 these crimes have been predicate offences for corporate liability: disqualification sanctions of up to two years are added to the fine. The risk chiefly concerns building sites, excavations and maintenance work in protected areas.

Article 3 of Law no. 22 of 9 March 2022 (Official Gazette no. 68 of 22 March 2022) inserted Article 25-septiesdecies into Legislative Decree no. 231 of 8 June 2001. Paragraph 3 punishes the entity with a fine of three hundred to seven hundred quotas where the offence under Article 518-duodecies of the Italian Criminal Code is committed — destruction, deterioration, defacement or unlawful use of cultural or landscape assets — and paragraph 5 adds the disqualifications under Article 9(2), for up to two years.

The scope is not limited to museums: Article 518-duodecies also covers landscape assets, hence building sites, excavations, earthworks and maintenance in restricted areas. For the entity, the defence unfolds on two distinct levels: the existence of the predicate offence by the individual and, autonomously, the organisational fault. Contesting the material fact alone is not enough; safeguards, delegations and prior checks on the restrictions affecting the area must be documented.

In practice: the management body, with the support of the supervisory board, updates the organisational model with the special section on offences against cultural heritage. If the charge has already been brought, the remedial measures under Article 17 of Decree 231 must be completed before the opening of the first-instance trial.

Summary note by the CommercialistiAvvocati network, based on specialised legal and practice sources. The text does not reproduce original contributions and does not constitute professional advice.