Decriminalise laws to ensure ease of doing biz : CII

“A change in the nature of penalty provisions in business and economic laws represents the next stage of reforms in ease of doing business. Divesting criminal penalties from business laws - unless well-defined criminal actions are found – will strengthen confidence among young entrepreneurs and investors in doing business,” Vikram Kirloskar President, CII said. Echoing the principle of establishing trust, which has been a pillar of the recent government policy announcements, CII has sought intervention from different arms of the government to examine how the current criminal provisions in the laws can be treated as civil offenses with penalties.

CII’s recommendations in this regard which cover 37 laws and Acts ranging from the partnership Act of 1932 to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of 2016 has said that offences which are of a technical nature or those that do not affect public interest prejudicially should be considered to be decriminalised.

Lately, there have been rising incidence of commercial and civil disputes being treated as criminal complaints, thereby creating a fear factor among Directors, young entrepreneurs and foreign investors. “For such business and economic legislations which fall within the domain of arbitration or civil courts, the Centre must consider decriminalising the laws, unless there is an intent of fraud or misdoings,” he said.