Compliance Officer Liability – Is There A Way Out?

A compliance officer (CO) is liable for criminal conduct within the company if the CO can be charged with dereliction of duties and wilfully and knowingly took, or failed to take, action. Liability strongly depends, however, on the contractual arrangement of the CO's position, which must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

In respect of civil liabilities, the CO is liable for damages affecting the company or third parties for wilful dereliction of duties. Due to the employee privilege based on the Austrian Employee Liability Act, the CO is not liable for accidents or excusable poor performance.

Criminal liability of the CO

Dereliction of duty under administrative law

In Austria, the potential for a CO's criminal liability begins at the point where his or her duties and responsibilities have been definitively standardised by law. This is the case in certain administrative regulations, such as in Sec. 18 of the Austrian Securities Supervision Act (Wertpapierauf