Article 16 — Mitigating circumstances

Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that, in relation to the relevant offences referred to in Articles 3 to 6 and 8 to 11, one or more of the following circumstances can, in accordance with national law, be regarded as a mitigating circumstance: (a) the offender provides the competent authorities with information which they would not otherwise have been able to obtain, helping them to identify or bring to justice the other offenders; (b) the offender provides the competent authorities with information they would not otherwise have been able to obtain, helping them to find evidence; (c) where a legal person is held liable for any of the offences referred to Articles 3 to 6 and 8 to 11 and, unless it constitutes a ground for exclusion of liability, it has implemented effective internal controls, ethics awareness, and compliance programmes to prevent corruption prior to or after the commission of the offence; (d) where a legal person is held liable for any of the offences referred to Articles 3 to 6 and 8 to 11 and it has, once the offence has been discovered, rapidly and voluntarily disclosed the offence to the competent authorities and taken remedial measures. The mitigating circumstances referred to in points (c) and (d) are applicable only to legal persons.