Dossier Editorial “Criminal proceedings for legal entities and internal corporate investigations”: Corporate internal investigations, fundamental rights and exclusionary rule

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of corporate internal investigations, as a manifestation of the privatizing trend represented by corporate self-regulation. After a general definition and characterization of internal investigations, the paper focuses on analyzing the current legislative framework of such investigations in Spain, with special attention to the novelties incorporated with the recent approval of the national law on whistleblower protection. It then discusses the issue of fundamental rights as a limit to the company's investigative powers, trying to determine to what extent substantive and procedural rights apply in the context of corporate investigations. Finally, the applicability of the evidentiary exclusion rule to these private and unregulated investigations is discussed, especially in light of the current case law of the Spanish Courts on the subject