2024-08-01
The Algerian government amended Decree No. 93-10 to empower the Securities Market Commission (COSOB) to establish cooperation agreements with foreign regulatory authorities for information exchange and joint investigations. These provisions waive professional secrecy for COSOB members when sharing data with equivalent foreign bodies, provided reciprocity and confidentiality guarantees are met. The COSOB is explicitly authorized to refuse assistance if requests threaten Algerian sovereignty, violate domestic law, involve double jeopardy, or originate from non-cooperative jurisdictions.
9 Rabie Ethani 1439 28 December 2017 JOURNAL OFFICIEL DE LA REPUBLIQUE ALGERIENNE No. 76 43
Art. 95. — Legislative Decree No. 93-10 of 23 May 1993, as amended and supplemented, relating to the securities exchange, is supplemented by Articles 63 bis 1 and 63 bis 2, drafted as follows:
« Art. 63 bis 1. — The Organization and Surveillance Commission for Stock Exchange Operations (COSOB) may cooperate with its foreign counterparts or with authorities exercising analogous missions, in accordance with the legislation and regulations in force.
To this end, it may conclude cooperation agreements which provide, inter alia, for the exchange of information and cooperation in the field of investigations, within the framework of the exercise of its missions in accordance with the following conditions:
1- the information exchanged must be necessary for the accomplishment of the mission of the requesting homologous authority, and may only be used for this purpose;
2- the Organization and Surveillance Commission for Stock Exchange Operations cannot invoke professional secrecy in matters of refusal of assistance and exchange of information;
3- the requesting homologous authority must safeguard the confidentiality of the information and provide the necessary guarantees for its safeguarding, under conditions at least equivalent to those to which the Organization and Surveillance Commission for Stock Exchange Operations is subject.
In application of such conventions, the Organization and Surveillance Commission for Stock Exchange Operations may, under the same conditions, according to the same procedures and under the same sanctions as those provided for by the legal provisions, for the execution of its missions, conduct investigations and document or on-site checks, at the request of foreign regulators exercising analogous competences, subject to reciprocity ».
« Art. 63 bis 2. — The obligation of professional secrecy to which the members of the Organization and Surveillance Commission for Stock Exchange Operations, the disciplinary and arbitral chamber, the president, the personnel of the Organization and Surveillance Commission for Stock Exchange Operations or the agents commissioned by it are bound, does not prevent the COSOB from communicating the information it holds or collects, at their request, to the bodies of other States exercising analogous competences, subject to reciprocity and provided that the requesting homologous authority is subject to professional secrecy with, at least, the same guarantees as in Algeria.
Assistance requested by a requesting homologous authority exercising competences analogous to those of the Organization and Surveillance Commission for Stock Exchange Operations for the conduct of investigations and document or on-site checks or the transmission of information held or collected by the Organization and Surveillance Commission for Stock Exchange Operations, is refused by the COSOB when the execution of the request:
— is of a nature to harm the sovereignty, security, public order or essential interests of Algeria;
— leads the organization and surveillance commission for stock exchange operations to violate Algerian law;
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— when any criminal proceedings have already been initiated in Algeria, based on the same facts and against the same persons, or when they have already been sanctioned by a final decision for the same facts;
— when the request comes from a homologous authority that does not cooperate in this field with the organization and surveillance commission for stock exchange operations ».