Italian Supreme Court, Criminal Division III, judgment no. 34744/2026, filed 28 September 2026

The Third Criminal Division returned to the issue of an entity’s organisational fault under Legislative Decree no. 231/2001.

The principle emerging from the judgment is that failure to adopt, or ineffective implementation of, an organisational and management model does not, by itself, constitute the entity’s offence. The absence of a model may nevertheless be relevant as evidence of organisational fault, which must be established in light of the concrete deficiencies in the organisation and control system.

In the case examined, the entity’s liability was not based solely on the absence of a model but also on specific weaknesses in controls and in the organisation of the activity affected by the predicate offence.

Defence relevance. The judgment confirms that proceedings under Legislative Decree 231/2001 cannot be reduced to a formal check of whether a model exists. The prosecution must identify the concrete organisational deficit and establish its relevance to the commission of the predicate offence.

Sources

The judgment was reported by AODV231 and discussed by Osservatorio 231.

See also: defence of legal entities under Legislative Decree 231/2001.