Throughout Europe, countries have widely varying laws governing insider trading, market manipulation and the punishment for such offenses. Dow Jones Newswires reports that Bulgaria, for example, doesn't have any criminal measures for insider trading while 14 other European countries impose up to five years of imprisonment.

That may change in the near future, however, as the European Commission is preparing "common sentencing standards for financial market manipulation across the 27-member economic bloc," Dow Jones reports. The proposal will reportedly define the crimes of "insider dealing" (the Euro-term for insider trading) and market manipulation, including a crime for "aiding market manipulation."  The EU's member states will then have to agree on what the minimum sanctions will be.

As discussed in an article this week in The Economist, countries around the globe--not just in Europe--have been getting tougher on insider trading. Regulators in Brazil say that investors have historically considered the country's legislation and regulatory environment "not safe enough or strong enough,” making the fight against insider trading “the single most important task we have.” Russia has now made insider trading a criminal offense for the first time, and an enforcement push is similarly underway in China, where insider trading has reportedly been rampant for years.

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