The necessary relevance for the securities price of the false information of Art. 59 letter a) of the Securities Market Act

Abstract

This article is about the extent of interpretation of the crime in delivering false information, as described in art. 59 a) of Stock Market Law, specifically in connection with the object of falsehood. It is stated that only the delivery of false information relevant to the price of the stocks fulfills the typical requirements for the legal description of the crime. Therefore, the delivery of any other kind of false information – specially required from the Superintendencia de Valores, excecuting its duty of inspection and control – but unable to influence the price of the stocks, remains outside the field of application of the legal description. Based on these premises, the Author states that the art. 59 a) of Stock Market Law is a general description in the- Chilean Law – about the information-based manipulation of the prices, or the market. The thesis becomes stronger, by taking into consideration the resulting valuation distortions that the opposite interpretation could provide to the criminal activity against the investigation and control faculties existing in the Chilean Law.