Definition Of Inside Information

This thesis focuses on analyzing the standard to define inside information, mainly discussed how to define the inside information in the practice of regulate the insider trading. Insider information is a very important legal concept, which is an essential element for the liability of insider trading. However, the elusive concept of"inside information"must be scrutinized against the backdrop of policy objectives that underlie legislative, judicial, and regulatory interpretation and application. Based on the material including legislation and cases of main countries and regions with respect to inside information, mainly taking USA for example, this thesis summarizes the standard to define inside information and tries to define each element of the standard in details. After the analysis, this thesis re-examines the legislation and the relevant practical understandings with respect to inside information and some new ideas are put forward which are expected to be helpful for the practice.In sum, the thesis comprises four parts as follows:Chapter 1: It is concerned with the general introduction of some concepts relevant to inside information, the background of the discussion and theoretical foundation. The importance of information against the stock market, the relationship between inside information and insider trading and the significance of defining inside information accurately will be clarify, aiming at illuminate the scope of the discussion and provide theoretical background for the analysis in later part.Chapter 2: It briefly introduces the legislative provisions relating to the definition of inside information made by certain countries and regions, including USA, EU, Japan, HKSAR and Taiwan province. Making a comparative study about the provisions, this thesis sums up the common elements to define inside information, which provides materials for the analysis in later part.Chapter 3: It is mainly concerned with defining the four elements of insider information in details. The author summarizes four elements to define insider information which are"relevance","non-public", "materiality"and"specific". These four elements are vague when judged in practical operation. This part tries to analyze each element according to the practical situation, arriving at some details to define each element. During the analysis for each element, the author raises some hot or disputable issues and puts forward some personal opinions. This is the main and creative part of this thesis.Chapter 4: On the base of the discussion of former three parts, this part focus on re-examining the regulation relating to inside information in our country, pointing out the shortage and the improving suggestions towards them. Owing to the significance of defining inside information in practice, this part especially take "Hang Xiao Gang Gou case" as an example to introduce the application of"four elements"for defining inside information. It's exactly the purpose of this thesis.The conclusion portion re-states the significance of inside information and re-emphasizes the four elements to define the inside information and how they work. Besides, author's opinions about the hot and disputable issues are put forward in short.This thesis includes both theoretical analysis and practical analysis. The author made inquiries at China Securities Regulatory Commission, and also study law, cases, theories that come from not only Chinese legal system but also other foreign systems. The methodology of this thesis is listed as follows: (1) case study method; (2) comparative method; (3) inductive reasoning method.