Offenses committed on the natural gas market: a new subgroup of economic offenses

The liberalization of the natural gas market in the Republic of Moldova determined the completion of Law no. 108 of 27 May 2016 regarding natural gas in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency. The emergence of new economic social relations (viz. social relations regarding the integrity and transparency of the natural gas market) conditioned the completion of the Criminal Code with articles 2442 ,,Manipulation on the natural gas market” and 2443 ,,Abusive use of inside information on the natural gas market”. In the present study the constitutive elements of the offenses provided by these articles are analyzed: the object of the offense; the objective side of the offense; the subjective side of the offense; the subject of the offense. The interpretation of art. 2442 and 2443 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova is done taking into account the extra-penal reference norms.