The thesis examines states’ prosecutorial powers in regard to cross-border criminal acts of natural persons and companies, as well as the problems of conflicts of jurisdiction resulting from the parallel applicability of the criminal law of multiple states. It focuses on the individual legal position of the accused and norm addressee, who, in a globalised economy and society, needs to be able to distinguish right from wrong. The ne bis in idem and other mechanisms fail in an “Area of Freedom, Security and Justice” where certain normative standards require overcoming the lack of foreseeability of the applicable substantive and procedural criminal law and to eliminate leeway for arbitrary considerations of the executive (forum shopping). The work meets this demand with a transparent legal framework for the coordination of prosecutorial powers within the EU that takes a liberal approach and is based on fundamental principles of the rule of law. It deals with basic issues of the transnational scope of corporate criminal law, which should be considered in the current reform discourse.
The author is a lawyer specialising in white-collar criminal law in Frankfurt am Main.