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3rd April 2008
After a protracted passage through Parliament, the Corporate Manslaughter Act finally comes into force in a few days - on 6 April.
The Act creates a new criminal offence of “corporate manslaughter”, which can only be brought against a company, as opposed to an individual. It is mainly concerned with major breaches of duty and serious negligence arising from the decisions and activities of senior management, or indeed anyone who played a significant role in the management of a company or in organising any of its activities.
As the new law does not abolish the common law offence of gross negligence manslaughter, it may still be possible for charges to be brought against an organisation as well as individual directors (or other managers) for manslaughter.
Charges can also be brought against individuals including directors under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
In the past it has not been possible to prosecute Crown bodies because they enjoyed Crown immunity. For most purposes the Act has abolished this immunity and the Crown can now be charged with corporate manslaughter, although there are some exceptions.
Prosecutions will be brought by the Crown Prosecution Service, not the Health and Safety Executive and trials will take place in the Crown Court in front of a jury.