The European Union is considering EU-wide mandatory
criminal sanctions for insider dealing and market manipulation
(market abuse). While a number of Member States already have such
sanctions in place, others have not. Current EU legislation and in
particular the Market Abuse Directive (Directive 2003/6/EC) only
broadly refer to an obligation for the Member States to take
appropriate administrative measures against these practices but
stay away from the EU-wide criminalisation that is now on the
table.Like any EU action in the field of criminal law, this is
politically sensitive.
The introduction of such EU-wide rules builds upon a key
recommendation of the High-Level Group on Financial Supervision in
the EU. This group was set up in the wake of the financial crisis.
It concluded that a sound prudential and conduct-of-business
framework for the financial sector must rest on strong supervisory
and sanctioning regimes. It assessed the sanctions that are
currently
