Abstract
The securities-related crimes included in Costa Rica’s Penal Code are analyzed after the Stock Exchange Market Regulation Act, in order to determine whether they violate the principles of legality and minimum intervention, and the legal certainty. For that purpose, they first study the generalities about the stock exchange markets and the National Stock Exchange of Costa Rica, in accordance with the doctrine of economic crime. They then analyze the Costa Rican criminal conducts, in comparison with Spanish legislation, and characterize them as crimes of danger. They finally identify areas of improvement in Costa Rican legislation.
Keywords: Securities-related crimes; crimes of danger; stock exchange crimes stock market; not-permitted practices; pump & dump; fraudulent values offering; falsebalances publishing and authorization; unlawful acts authorization; currency equivalent values; market prices manipulation; insider trading