omid rostami ghazani

Today, in light of the developments in criminal law, the mens rea has been accepted as one of the elements of crime. However, the legislator generally does not pay adequate attention to explaining the elements of the crime in the exact explanation of the mens rea, which sometimes causes conflicting views about the mens rea of crimes, and the same is true of the crime of smuggling goods and currency. Due to the legal definition of this crime and numerous examples of this crime in different laws, there has been a serious disagreement among jurists in relation with the mens rea required to commit this crime. Accordingly, some believe that this crime is intentional and some believe that it is a no mens rea offence. This article explains the reasons behind these views, and finally reasonably describes the author's view that the crime of smuggling of goods and currency is intentional. The principle of intentionality of the crimes, the principle of exceptionality of the strict liability crimes, the principle of innocence, the principle of interpretation in favor of the accused, the principle of proportionality between the crime and punishment etc. indicate that this crime is intentional, but sometimes the approach of legislative and judicial penal policy implies a kind of tolerance in obtaining intentional elements, which is rooted in the fact that smuggling of goods and currency is an economic crime.

Today, the criminal liability of legal entities is accepted in various legal systems. In the Iranian legal system, as a general rule, this responsibility has been accepted by the Islamic Penal Code. Some crimes are characterized by the fact that the legislator has adopted a differential criminal policy in dealing with them, and the approach of the Anti-Trafficking in Goods and Foreign Exchange Law in dealing with the crime of smuggling goods and foreign exchange is one of the examples of the crystallization of this differential policy. Is. This differential approach in responding to the delinquency of legal entities has also manifested itself. The Anti-Trafficking in Goods and Foreign Exchange Law, in addition to Articles 67 and 70, deals with the issue of criminal liability of legal persons in the crime of smuggling of goods and foreign exchange and the differential response to the crimes committed by them. Of course, the law on combating smuggling of goods and currency in this area has many ambiguities, the elimination of which is a necessity to achieve an effective criminal policy.