Allocation of procedural costs to a third party under Art. 418 para. 3 CrimPC

Facts

Company X. SA was tasked with assembling a crane on a construction site. During repair and calibration work on the crane, an accident occurred, causing the death of a worker and serious injuries to another. The Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation, but was unable to definitively identify the person responsible for the behavior that caused the accident. Nevertheless, it convicted X. SA to bear the costs of the proceedings under Art. 418 para. 3 and Art. 55 para. 1 CO.

X. SA filed a criminal appeal with the Federal Tribunal, contesting the application of Art. 418 para. 3 CrimPC to allocate the costs of the criminal proceedings to it.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal considered that Art. 418 para. 3 CrimPC does not allow the procedural costs to be allocated exclusively to a third party, in this case the employer X. SA, in the absence of a conviction of a defendant to pay the costs under Art. 426 CrimPC.

According to the Federal Tribunal, Art. 418 CrimPC deals only with the distribution of costs between several persons and not with their allocation. The exceptions to the general rule of Art. 423 para. 1 CrimPC, which provides that the costs are borne by the canton, are provided for in Art. 426 and 427 CrimPC, targeting the defendant and the complainant or plaintiff respectively.

The Federal Tribunal held that Art. 418 para. 3 CrimPC can only…