The legislative changes on criminal liability on the capital market

• Author: Laura Manea
• Position: Department of Law, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 173-180

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 8 (57) No. 1 - 2015

THE LEGISLATIVE CHANGES ON

CRIMINAL LIABILITY ON

THE CAPITAL MARKET

Laura MANEA1

Abstract: Given the entry into force of the new Penal Code and of the Law

no.187 / 2012 implementing the Criminal Code, amid the legislative changes

at Community level, the criminal liability regarding the deeds on the capital

market has changed both in terms of sanctions, as well as the criminalization,

although some persist. Tightening the sanctions regime by removing the

penalty of fines and introducing the complementary punishment in the

national law and the adoption of Directive 2014/57 / EU on criminal

sanctions for the market abuse are issues which we will develop in this study,

given that the offenses on the capital market are regarded as particularly

serious crimes having a crossborder dimension by their nature and impact.

Key words: manipulation, insider information, capital market.

1 Department of Law, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. Introduction

In the evolution of the exchange of

goods, the nascent form of the barter was

replaced with the advent of the currency as

a tool of exchange, while at present, the

movement of goods is expressed in a high

and more abstracted form, under the form

of securities, while the physical currency is

replaced by the electronic one. On the

background of globalization and

elimination of the physical and economic

borders, we can say that the securities are

beginning to have an increasing

importance, citing as an argument the

growing attention that states, the

international organizations and the

European Union attach to the regulations

of the financial markets in general and the

capital market in particular.

The current concept of capital market is of

interest for both the sophisticated investors

and the retail investors who, equally,

motivated by the interest of getting a benefit,

choose to direct their available funds to this

market, the fundamental mobilizing element

being given by the trust shown to financial

instruments [1], for the stability and

transparency of the financial instruments and

the transparency of the regulated operations.

Because of the negative effects of the

attempts to use abusively the insider

information and market manipulation on

the integrity of the financial markets and

investor confidence in those markets, the

offenses punishable in the original form of

the Law no.297/2004 [12] are qualified

currently, by the nature and impact on the

national economies, as particularly serious

offenses having a cross-border dimension.