Company Securities (Insider Dealing) (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 1996

Summary

This 1996 Bailiwick of Guernsey law creates the criminal offence of insider dealing in securities and sets out the associated defences, investigation powers, and penalties. It defines core concepts such as inside information, insiders, price affected securities, dealing, and professional intermediary, and specifies which types of securities the law applies to via Schedule 2.

• Offence: An individual who has inside information commits insider dealing if they deal in price affected securities, encourage another to deal, or improperly disclose the information, where the dealing occurs on a regulated market or involves a professional intermediary.
• Defences: Statutory and special defences apply, including lack of expectation of profit, reasonable belief information was sufficiently disclosed, and the special defences listed in Schedule 1 (e.g. market makers, price stabilisation).
• Investigations: Her Majesty's Procureur may appoint inspectors to investigate suspected insider dealing, including offences under foreign insider dealing laws where a Bailiwick person may be involved or hold relevant information; search warrants and document retention powers support this.
• International cooperation: The law provides mechanisms for assisting overseas proceedings relating to insider dealing.
• Offences and penalties: Separate offences and sanctions apply for failing to cooperate with investigations, obstructing warrants, or other non-compliance with Part III procedures.
• Scope of securities: The law applies only to securities falling within Schedule 2 (shares, debt securities, warrants, depositary receipts, options, futures, contracts for differences) and meeting any conditions set by order of the Committee.

The law is a general criminal statute rather than a licensing or reporting regime, so it does not impose periodic filing obligations on regulated firms. It principally affects individuals dealing in, or disclosing information about, securities issued by companies or public sector bodies within or connected to the Bailiwick, and persons acting as professional intermediaries.

Key obligations

• Individuals must not deal in price affected securities while possessing inside information as an insider, in the specified circumstances (regulated market dealing or via a professional intermediary)
• Individuals must not encourage another person to deal in securities that are price affected in relation to inside information they hold
• Individuals must not disclose inside information to another person other than in the proper performance of their employment, office or profession
• Persons under investigation must comply with inspectors' requirements, search warrants and document retention requirements issued under Part III, or face separate offences and sanctions for non-cooperation

Applies to

individuals dealing in securities, professional intermediaries, issuers of securities (companies and public sector bodies), persons subject to investigation under the Law

Related documents

• Insider Dealing (Securities and Regulated Markets) (Amendment) Order, 2008 (No. 64) is made under this document
• Insider Dealing (Securities and Regulated Markets) (Amendment) Order, 2017 (No. 22) is made under this document
• No.16 Insider Dealing (Securities and Regulated Markets) (Amendment) Order, 2000 is made under this document
• Machinery of Government (Transfer of Functions) (Guernsey) Ordinance, 2003 (Consolidated text) amends this document
• Insider Dealing (Securities and Regulated Markets) Order, 1996 (Consolidated text) is made under this document
• Insider Dealing (Securities and Regulated Markets) (Amendment) Order, 1997 (No. 6) is made under this document