The author examines questionable points as to existing provisions on criminal liability of legal intities in relation to offences committed abroad while performing their activities, in the context of globalization which induces Italian corporations to adopt international standards an to re-locate elsewhere their activities. The author outlines on the one hand the complex relationships between criminal substantive provisions contained in the penal code, as to crimes committed abroad and on the other hand those circumstances that would impede or prevent the Italian law on criminal liability of legal entities to be fully applied in such cases.