Learning objectives
The course aims to provide students with the basics of food criminal law, through the analysis of case law cases and doctrinal opinions on the most relevant topics. At the end of the course, the student is expected to be able to frame the arguments of the pronouncements in the field of food criminal law, to grasp their evolutions and possible criticalities, expressing himself/herself in an appropriate legal language.
Prerequisites
Students with no previous knowledge of criminal law are invited to contact the lecturer in advance, who will indicate how to acquire such knowledge.
Course unit content
The module covers the main aspects of criminal law that come to the fore in the agri-food sector and is divided into two parts, according to the classic partition between 'general part' and 'special part'.
In the first part of the module, therefore, the profiles of agri-food legislation affecting the general institutes of criminal law will be considered, with particular regard to the relevant constitutional principles in criminal matters. In particular, the emergence of the legal interest represented by the 'agri-food heritage', in the light of the fundamental principles of extrema ratio and proportionality. In the same perspective, but also recalling the principle of culpability, the precautionary logic that underlies many aspects of the agri-food discipline will be considered. The problems of accessibility of law and predictability of judicial decisions in a field characterized by extra-criminal regulations at various levels will not be overlooked. On the subject of legality, the intersections between European law and national criminal law will also be considered, recalling the important and topical issues concerning the limits to the direct effects in criminal matters. Finally, the delicate issue of the definition of the “positions of guarantee” from which a liability by omission may arise will be addressed considering the prohibition on punishing a person where the offence has been committed by another.
The second part of the module will focus on some specific offences in the agri-food sector. It will deal, in particular, with the offences against public health, the offences of counterfeiting and alteration, the fraud in trade and the offences connected to the protection of 'Made in Italy'. The analysis of the various cases will take into account a central feature of punitive agri-food law, namely the coexistence of criminal and administrative offences. Finally, special attention will be devoted to the corporate criminal liability arising from food offences (legislative decree n. 231/2001).
Full programme
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Bibliography
A. NIETO MARTIN, L. QUAKELBEEN, M. SIMONATO (eds.), Food Regulation and Criminal Justice, RIDP 2-2016, Maklu (contributions of A. Nieto Martin, M. Simonato, S. Aires de Sousa and M. Donini; 120 pages overall);
M. DONINI, Crimes against food safety and public health at international level. Trends from a comparative perspective, in P. Severino, J.A.E. Vervaele, A. Gullo (eds.), Criminal Justice and Corporate Business, in Revue Internationale de Droit Pénal, 2021, 93 ff.
N. LORD, W. HUISMAN, L. PAOLI, Food crimes, food harms and the food system – SI introduction, in Crim. Law Soc. Change, 2022 (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10611-022-10061-y)
A. RIZZUTI, Organised food crime: an analysis of the involvements of organised crime groups in the food sector in England and Italy, in Crim. Law Soc. Change, 2022 (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10611-021-09975-w)
Teaching methods
Teaching will be delivered through face-to-face lectures and audiovisual materials will also be made available online via the Elly platform. Lectures will be structured to encourage active student participation and critical analysis of relevant case law material. To this end, there will also be group work aimed at conducting a moot court.
Assessment methods and criteria
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Other information
The final summative assessment, with a mark out of thirty, consists of an oral exam in English that includes at least three questions. The questions will aim to test the correct understanding of the syllabus and the learning of the fundamental concepts of the subject. The grade is announced immediately at the end of the oral examination. There are no intermediate exams.
2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
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