Amendment to Criminal Code

Act No. 421/2002 Coll., amending and supplementing the Act No. 140/1961 Coll., the Criminal Code, as amended

The changes in the Criminal Code reflect the recent stress on issues of fight against terrorism, establishment of the International Criminal Court in the Hague and anticipated accession to the European Communities and the European Union.

A new crime of terrorism is introduced. It is defined as any threat or commission of an extraordinarily serious crime (these crimes are listed in the Criminal Code) with the aim to seriously threaten the public, destabilise or destroy the constitutional, political, economic or social system of a country or international organisation, or to force a government or international organisation to conduct or defer from conducting certain activity. A separate crime is also establishment, devising or support of a terrorist group. It is permitted to seize an item, if the conditions of a particular case reasonably suggest, that such item may be a source of financing of terrorism.

A new crime of enormity against humanity has been added to the already existing group of crimes against humanity. The crime is defined in Article 7 of the International Criminal Court's Statute.

A crime is conducted in public also in case, if it is conducted through internet.

Abuse of financial facilities of the European Communities is a new economic crime. This crime is conducted if someone, even negligently, uses or submits false, incorrect or incomplete account or record, or fails to submit required information, or spends financial facilities of the European Communities for different purposes than assigned purposes and thereby causes defraudation or unlawful detention of financial facilities.

This Act became effective from 1 September 2002.