Running against the clock? Il decorso del tempo nel sistema di responsabilità da reato degli enti: per una lettura sistematica del regime di prescrizione e improcedibilità

Concerning the corporate liability, the rules referring the statute of limitations are the subject of an ad hoc regulation dictated by the legislator since 2001. This specific legal regime has never been seriously questioned by jurisprudence and lawmaker, despite the doubts raised by scholars. The introduction, by law n. 134/2021, of the inadmissibility of criminal action for exceeding the time-limit set for the appeal and Supreme Court judgments opens a new question: the proceedings against corporations have remained untouched by the legislative novelty, or this latter applies beyond the boundaries of the proceedings against natural persons? The systematic reading proposed here, combining the statute of limitations regime and the inadmissibility related to the passage of time, leads to the conclusion that, unless otherwise expressly determined by the legislator, multiple elements militate in favour of an interpretation admitting the extension.