De Minimis - Examples of Application of The de Minimis Rule

Examples of Application of The de Minimis Rule

In criminology, the de minimis or minimalist approach is an addition to a general harm principle. The general harm principle fails to consider the possibility of other sanctions to prevent harm, and the effectiveness of criminalization as a chosen option. Those other sanctions include civil courts, laws of tort and regulation. Having criminal remedies in place is seen as a "last resort" since such actions often infringe personal liberties – incarceration, for example, prevents the freedom of movement. In this sense, law making that places a greater emphasis on human rights, such as the European Convention on Human Rights fall into the de minimis category. Most crimes of direct actions (murder, rape, assault, for example) are generally not affected by such a stance, but it does require greater justification in less clear cases.

This also has application in the field of auditing and may refer to situations of a low audit risk. It can be verified in ASA 1.

Under U.S. tax rules, the de minimis rule governs the treatment of small amounts of market discount. Under the rule, if a bond is purchased with a small amount of market discount (an amount less than 0.25% of the face value of a bond times the number of complete years between the bond’s acquisition date and its maturity date) the market discount is considered to be zero. If the market discount is less than the de minimis amount, the discount on the bond is generally treated as a capital gain upon disposition or redemption rather than as ordinary income. Under IRS guidelines, the de minimis rule can also apply to any benefit, property, or service provided to an employee that has so little value that reporting for it would be unreasonable or administratively impracticable; for example, use of a company photocopier to copy personal documents – see de minimis fringe benefit. Cash is not excludable, regardless of the amount.

The de minimis rule in North American drug law requires a usable quantity of the substance in question before charges can be brought, known as the minority rule.

In Canada, de minimis is often used as a standard of whether a criminal offence is made out at a preliminary stage. For a charge of second degree murder, the test being: "could the jury reasonably conclude that accused actions were a contributing cause, beyond de minimis, of the victim's death."

Under European Union competition law, some agreements infringing Article 101(1) of the TFEU (formerly Article 81(1) of the EC Treaty) are considered to be "de minimis" and therefore accepted. Horizontal agreement, that is one between competitors, will usually be de minimis where the parties’ market share is 10% or less, and a vertical agreement, between undertakings operating at different levels of the market, where it is 15% or less.

The European Union de minimis "state aid" regulation allows for aid of up to €200,000 to be provided from public funds to any business enterprise over a rolling three-year period.