In the January and June issues of the “Administrative Practice of Federal Agencies” (VPB) 2016. several rulings were published concerning applications for the granting of a license pursuant to Art. 271 item 1 StGB. These concerned the following applications:
- Decision of the FDJP of February 12, 2014 regarding Providing information to a U.S. civil court: finding that Art. 271 SCC does not cover the facts in question – VPB 2016.7
- Decision of the FDJP of April 10, 2014 regarding Issue of documents in English civil proceedings: finding that Art. 271 SCC does not cover the facts in question – VPB 2016.3
- Decision of the FDJP of April 11, 2016 regarding Filing of an affidavit in civil proceedings before the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands: finding that Art. 271 StGB does not cover the relevant facts – VPB 2016.7
These orders are discussed by Damian K. Graf: Graf, Mitwirkung in ausländischen Verfahren im Spannungsfeld mit Art. 271 StGB, GesKR 2016, 169 et seq. [Swisslex] Abstracts:
At the beginning of this year, two rulings issued by the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) and the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) in 2014 were published in the Administrative Practice of the Federal Authorities (VPB). In these, it dealt with the implications of Art. 271 SCC on the still permissible scope of cooperation in the gathering of evidence in the context of foreign proceedings. The Federal Department of Finance (FDF) has also issued numerous previously unpublished rulings on this topic in recent years – also outside of banking cases.
The effects of the recent administrative practice are drastic: On the one hand, it seems that the still permissible participation expanded The FDJP was still deemed to have refused the release of certain documents and information. permissible if, in the event of a refusal to cooperate, the Penal sanctions threatened are. This is even for third parties external to the procedure apply. On the other hand, a new tendency of the departments has resulted in a sensitive restriction in that non-public identifying third-party information may no longer be issued without authorization.