Criminal law

Criminal law is governed by the Criminal Code ("Code pénal") of 28 September 1967, and specific laws such as Law No.1.299 of 15 July 2005 on freedom of public expression, Law No.1.362 of 3 August 2009 amended on anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism financing and anti-corruption, Law No.1.338 of 7 September 2007 on financial activities.

Criminal procedure is governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure ("Code de procédure pénale") promulgated on 2 April 1963.

Monegasque criminal business law is very different from the French criminal business law. Some criminal offences do not exist in Monaco, e.g. misuse of company assets.

It may also be noted, on the one hand, that the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by a judicial authority of a European Union country is not valid on the territory of Monaco, and on the other hand, that judicial cooperation with France is simplified due to their close links.

Among other features, Law No. 1.421 of 1 December 2015 on various measures on State responsibility and remedies has introduced an exceptional procedure for the reopening of criminal proceedings in the event of a decision of the EHCR finding a violation to the European Convention on Human Rights or its additional protocols.

At the international level, the Principality of Monaco is a party to numerous multilateral conventions in criminal matters, including:

• United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances done at Vienna on 20 December 1988 (Sovereign Order 10.201 of 3 July 1991) ;
• European Convention on Extradition of 13 December 1957 (Sovereign Order 2.120 of 23 March 2009) and Additional Protocol of 15 October 1975 (Sovereign Order 2.121 of 23 March 2009), Second Additional Protocol of 17 March 1978 (Sovereign Order 2.122 of 23 March 2009);
• European Convention of 20 April 1959 on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Sovereign Order n° 1.088 of 4 May 2007);
  
• Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime, done at Strasbourg on 8 November 1990 (Sovereign Order 15.452 of 8 August 2002), updated and extended by the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism, adopted on 16 May 2005 (Sovereign Order 9.393 of 29 July 2022);
• Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (CETS No. 185), opened for signature in Budapest (Sovereign Order 6.492 of 28 July 2017) and its Additional Protocol concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems (Sovereign Order 6.493 of 28 July 2017);
• Criminal Law Convention of 27 January 1999 on Corruption (Sovereign Order 1.089 of 4 May 2007) and its Additional Protocol of 15 May 2003 (Sovereign Order n° 4.668 of 15 January 2014);
• United Nations Convention on the fight against transnational organised crime of 15 November 2000 (Sovereign Order No. 16.025 of 3 November 2003) and Additional Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Additional Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air;
• European Convention of 27 January 1977 on the Suppression of Terrorism (Sovereign Order 1.416 of 23 November 2007) ;
• International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism of 9 December 1999 (Sovereign Order No. 15.319 of 8 April 2002);
• Council of Europe Convention of 16 May 2005 on the Prevention of Terrorism (Sovereign Order 6.030 of 9 September 2016) and its Additional Protocol (Sovereign Order 6.494 of 28 July 2017);
• Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Sovereign Order 5.209 of 20 February 2015);
• Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Sovereign Order 5.208 of 20 February 2015);
• Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings concluded in Warsaw on 16 May 2005 (Sovereign Order 5.803 of 11 April 2016).

Monaco has also concluded the following bilateral agreements in criminal matters:

• with France: Convention of 8 November 2005 on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Government of the French Republic and the Government of His Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco (Sovereign Order n° 1.828 of 18 September 2008), Protocol of 26 March 2021 of agreement between the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice of the French Republic and the Secretary of State for Justice, Director of the Judicial Services of the Principality of Monaco concerning the fight against terrorism, signed in Monaco (Sovereign Order n° 8. 665 of 26 May 2021), Convention of 8 June 1978 between the Government of His Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco and the Government of the French Republic on the reciprocal enforcement of fines and confiscation (Sovereign Order n° 6.939 of 8 October 1980);
• with other countries: Agreement of 24 March 2007 between the Government of His Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco and the Government of the United States of America on the sharing of confiscated proceeds of crime or property (Sovereign Order n° 1.138 of 4 June 2007); Agreement of 13 September 1999 on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters between the Government of His Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco and the Government of Australia (Sovereign Order n° 15. 063 of 12 October 2001); Agreement of 27 July 2010 between the Principality of Monaco and the Federal Republic of Germany on assistance in civil and criminal tax matters through exchange of information (Sovereign Order n° 3.627 of 12 January 2012), Bilateral treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters between the Principality of Monaco and the Republic of Kazakhstan (Sovereign Order n° 5.892 of 20 June 2016);
• with EUROPOL: Agreement of 6 May 2011 on operational and strategic cooperation between the Government of H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince of Monaco and the European Police Office (Sovereign Order n° 3.509 of 2 November 2011).

Furthermore, the Monetary Agreement of 29 November 2011 with the European Union provides for the implementation by Monaco of legal provisions equivalent to those of the European Union acts listed in its Annex B in the area of money laundering, fraud and counterfeiting (such as the 6th Directive (EU) 2018/1673 of 23 October 2018 to combat money laundering by means of criminal law).

Monaco's accession to this network of international conventions has contributed to the evolution of the provisions of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.

In the past years, the face of criminal law and criminal procedure law changed substantially, in particularly to adapt to the new constraints imposed by the Council of Europe (MONEYVAL, GRECO, GREVIO):

• With regard to anti-money laundering, Law No. 1.322 of 9 November 2006 and Law No. 1.462 of 28 June 2018 have substantially amended the applicable rules, enlarging the list of the money laundering predicate offenses, and introducing the case of presumptive money laundering in the Criminal Code. Most recently, Law No. 1.521 of 11 February 2022 added new underlying offences, a new aggravating circumstance for natural persons subject to Law No. 1.362 on the prevention of money laundering, new provisions on the criminal liability of legal persons, and an exception to the principle of double criminality. Bill 1080 aims to strengthen the deterrent effect of the criminal law and includes the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as an act of terrorism.
• In corruption matters, Law No. 1.394 of 9 October 2012 and Law No. 1.462 of 28 June 2018 have reshaped the existing offenses, in accordance with the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of 27 January 1999.
• With regard to cybercrime, Law No.1.435 of 8 November 2016 has incorporated into Monegasque law the Council of Europe (Budapest) Convention on Cybercrime: introduction of new offenses in the criminal code (offences involving information systems, digital identity theft); modernization of traditional criminal offenses (criminal threats); modernization of criminal proceedings rules (search of computer systems, seizure of computer data).
• On the recommendations of the OECD, the penalties for breach of professional secrecy have been aggravated by Law No. 1.444 of 19 December 2016.
• Law No. 1.464 of 10 December 2018 strengthened the protection of persons against non-public defamation and insult (amendment of the Penal Code) and public defamation and insult (amendment of Law No. 1.299 of 15 July 2005 on freedom of public expression, modified). The reform takes into account defamatory or abusive language through the “use of a false name, false quality, false identity, or any other means of concealing its real identity”.
• A recent major reform of the Principality’s criminal policy was carried out by Law No. 1.478 of 12 November 2019, which modernized the concept of the sentence (introduction of day-fines, community service, partial suspension, period of day-parole and placement in society,).
• Law No. 1.494 of 8 July 2020 created the offence of fraudulent organisation or aggravation of insolvency, which punishes fraud resulting from the various acts of impoverishment carried out by the debtor in order to claim his insolvency and thus prevent the recovery of the debt from his assets.
• Law No 1.516 of 23 December 2021 created the offence of fraudulent abuse of ignorance or weakness.
• Law No. 1.517 of 23 December 2021 carries out a wide-ranging reform of sexual offences and crimes (rape, sexual assault, sexual exhibition, sexual harassment, sexual blackmail, sexual assault).
• Law No 1.513 of 3 December 2021 criminalised, among other things, harassment in schools, hazing, racketeering among adolescents, provocation to commit suicide, the exploitation of an image or representation that undermines dignity or is used to threaten or blackmail, and repeated malicious telephone calls or messages.
• Law No. 1.521 of 11 February 2022 introduced a reversal of the burden of proof for crimes and offences punishable by at least three years' imprisonment that may be subject to confiscation and made adjustments to offences relating to non-cash payment instruments.
• The offence of human trafficking provided for in Sovereign Order no. 605 of 1 August 2006 has been amended on GRETA's recommendations, as it is no longer restricted to transnational situations involving an organised criminal group, and aggravating circumstances have been added.
• Law no. 1.559 of 29 February 2024 (Part IV) (Moneyval) supplements the criminal law provisions relating to confiscation, penalties for non-compliance with additional penalties, (aggravated) penalties for undeclared work,acts of terrorism, terrorist financing and breaches of procedures for freezing funds and economic resources.

Similarly, the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure are constantly evolving in the light of the guarantees for the individual arising from the European Convention on Human Rights:

• Law No. 1.394 of 9 October 2012 introduced new special investigation techniques, such as the sound and image fixation of certain places or vehicles, the procedure of infiltration and anonymous testimony.
• The police custody regime was recasted and adjusted by Laws No. 1.343 of 26 December 2007 and No. 1.399 of 25 June 2013 (criteria of detention, guarantee of human rights, right to silence, right to counsel …).
• The rules of criminal procedure relating to the search and seizure of computer data were modernized by Law No. 1.435 of 8 November 2016.
• The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the summons to appear in court and the arrest warrant issued by the criminal court have been amended by Law No. 1.449 of 4 July 2017.
• Law No 1.513 of 3 December 2021 adjusted the rules on juvenile criminal justice governed by Law No 740 of 25/03/1963 (educational measures).
• Law No 1.517 of 23 December 2021 extended to incapacitated adults victims the protective procedural provisions for minor victims concerning offences against the person, allowing the presence of a psychologist, a doctor, a member of the family of the adult or the ad hoc administrator to be requested during the victim’s hearing or confrontation with the alleged perpetrator.
• Recently, a major reform has taken place with four laws passed on the same day: introduction of alternative measures to prosecution for minor offences and misdemeanours (directing the perpetrator to a health, social or professional structure, penal mediation, removal measures, etc.), changes to the police custody system (guarantees in the event of extension, full body search), supervision of the unrestricted hearing and the preliminary investigation by the judicial police (home visits, requests for the nullity of acts carried out in this context, regime for the seizure of documents, computer data, objects with a view to providing evidence, etc.), introduction of the general procedure for obtaining additional information (Law No. 1. 533 of 9 December 2022); creation of the status of assisted witness, overhaul of the investigation procedure, introduction of geolocation, specific procedures applicable to the prosecution, investigation and judgment of offences committed by legal persons, adaptations to the appeal for review (Law No. 1. 534 of 9 December 2022); with regard to seizure and confiscation, widening the possibilities of seizure of confiscable assets, facilitating the tracing of these assets, creation of specialised assistants to participate in money laundering procedures, appeals by persons affected by a seizure measure or confiscation decision, establishment of a 'management service for seized or confiscated assets' (Law no. 1. 535 of 9 December 2022 following the FATF Recommendations and Directive 2014/42/EU of 3 April 2014); reform of the common law on international mutual legal assistance (Law No. 1.536 of 9 December 2022).
• Law no. 1553 of 7 December 2023 amending the Code of Criminal Procedure and Law 1.222 of 28 December 1999 on extradition (effective investigation and prosecution).
• Establishment by Law no. 1.555 of 14 December 2023 of a system of state compensation for victims of sexual offences, crimes against children, domestic violence, acts of terrorism and human trafficking in the event of the perpetrators' insolvency.
• Law no. 1.559 of 29 February 2024 (Part IV) (Moneyval) reinforces the effectiveness of the provision for extradition, acts of preliminary investigation, declaration of address, interruption of the statute of limitations, cooperation of Tax Department agents with the judicial authorities, special investigation techniques (infiltration), judicial review (competent jurisdiction).
• Bill no. 1118 introducing the guilty plea and penal agreement procedures.