Criminal Liability of Corporations under Specific Situations (Before Registration, during Settlement and after Merger)

It is not deniable that explicit reflection of the legal person's criminal liability including corporations, regarding the general crimes, explanation of criteria for assuming such liabilities and providing various executive warranties along with the Islamic Penal Code is a turning point in the Iranian criminal law development. However, there are some questions concerning the corporation's criminal liability under specific situations which must be answered by the lawmaker. The first question is that, whether this liability is exerted from registration date and the related arrangement or it is retrospective. The second question is that, what are the effects of breakup on a corporate liability? Is it regarded as the death of real persons which causes the extinction of criminal liability of legal persons during settlement? The third question is "what are the effects of merger and its various types (unilateral, bilateral or multi-lateral merger) on merging company's criminal liability, with regard to the scopes of special laws as well as the Fourth and Fifth Development Plan of the country, and the Trade Bill?