Question & AnswerQ&A (Act No. 3326)
The main purpose of Act No. 3326 is to establish periods of prescription for violations penalized by special acts and municipal ordinances, and to provide when the prescription period shall begin to run.
The prescriptive period for offenses punished only by a fine or imprisonment for not more than one month, or both, is one year.
The prescriptive period for offenses punished by imprisonment for more than one month but less than two years is four years.
The prescriptive period for offenses punished by imprisonment for two years or more but less than six years is eight years.
The prescriptive period for offenses punished by imprisonment for six years or more is twelve years, except for the crime of treason which prescribes after twenty years.
Violations penalized by municipal ordinances prescribe after two months.
Prescription shall begin to run from the day of the commission of the violation of the law, or if the violation is not known at the time, from the discovery thereof and the institution of judicial proceedings for its investigation and punishment.
The prescription period is interrupted when proceedings are instituted against the guilty person.
The prescription period begins to run again if the proceedings are dismissed for reasons not constituting jeopardy.
Special acts are defined as acts defining and penalizing violations of the law not included in the Penal Code.