ISSN 2410-3594
e-ISSN 2786-7382
UDC 34; 159.9
Scientific Journal of the National Academy of Internal Affairs
- object of criminal offence; public relations; electricity market; natural gas market; wholesale energy market; abuse
- https://doi.org/10.56215/naia-herald/2.2023.30
- Pages 30-40
Article 42 of the Constitution of Ukraine establishes the principles of preventing abuse of a monopoly position in the market and unfair competition in economic activity. Manipulation of the Energy Market – an act that violates the procedure for state regulation of the electric energy market and the natural gas market approved by the current legislation – poses an increased public danger. The purpose of the study is to investigate objective signs of manipulation in the energy market as part of a criminal offence under Article 222-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Within the framework of the study, a complex of scientific methods was applied: dialectical, hermeneutical, systemic, formal logical, generalisation, system and structural, method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete, analysis, and synthesis. It is proved that the object of manipulation in the energy market is covered by public relations that control the procedure for state regulation of the electric energy market and the natural gas market approved by the current legislation – the implementation by the state of comprehensive measures to manage the demand, prices, and volumes of the wholesale energy market, prevent abuse and violations in this area. The criminal legal content of the concept of “manipulation” is determined by the deliberate activity of a person(s) who violate the conditions of functioning of the wholesale energy market, is carried out by performing a set of illegal actions, the purpose of which is to obtain financial benefits for themselves and third parties, by changing the price of a financial asset. The essence of manipulation of the wholesale energy market is highlighted through its inherent features, which indicate a violation of the conditions necessary for making transactions on the wholesale energy market and a deviation of the asset price from the real market price in the right direction for manipulators (the presence of a process of overstating (underestimating) the total price of the contract, which leads to the loss of its market status). The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the analysis carried out is of auxiliary importance for law enforcement practice in solving issues related to the legal qualification of manipulation in the energy market
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