The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved an amendment to the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) clarifying the definition of insider trading and requiring prosecutors to present evidence before indicting an individual for the offense.
The amendment to Article 157-1 of the law prohibits directors, supervisors, managers and shareholders who own more than 10 percent of a company’s shares who “actually know of” important information that may influence the company’s share price, or individuals who learn of the information from them from purchasing or selling the company’s stock before or within 18 hours after the information is made public.
Currently, the law only bars directors, supervisors, managers or shareholders who “learn of” major information that could affect a company’s stock prices, or personnel who learn of the information, from buying or selling the company’s shares prior to or within 12 hours after the public disclosure of the information.
However, the act failed to clearly define insider trading by using the term “learn of,” while court oftens failed to convict individuals indicted for the offense, said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰), one of the legislators who had proposed the amendment.
Legislators also agreed not to allow every individual in the nation to purchase stocks of the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TWSE, 台灣證交所) for fear that Chinese capital might indirectly take hold of the TWSE’s shares by taking advantage of plans to relax restrictions.
Under current regulations, only securities businesses are allowed to hold TWSE shares.
Legislators also passed an amendment to the Factory Management Act (工廠管理輔導法) that would allow unregistered factories to apply for an operation permit within two years if they meet low-pollution standards.
Ministry of Economic Affairs statistics show that about 60,000 domestic factories are not registered as required by law, although they currently employ more than 400,000 people in total.
“These unregistered factories create job opportunities and help boost the economy. They are working hard [to facilitate the local economy] and the government should give them an opportunity [to register],” KMT Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) said on the legislative floor after the bill was passed.
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