Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires
"accountant" means a person enrolled as a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda in accordance with the Accountants Act;
"agent", in relation to a broker or dealer, includes a person who is, or has at any time been, a banker of the broker or the dealer;
"application duly made" means an application for a licence or approval under this Act in relation to which all documents and information required by this Act to be provided in support of the application and any further information required by the Authority have been provided by the applicant to the Authority;
"approved person" means a regulated person and includes a person authorised by the Authority to carry out any activity under this Act or any other Act for whose administration the Authority is wholly or partly responsible;
"approved stock exchange" means a securities exchange approved by the Authority under section 40 ;
"arbitrage" means profiting from differences in price of the same security traded on two or more markets;
"auditor" means a company auditor qualified as such under the Companies Act;
"authorised person" means a person authorised by the Authority to carry on any activity under this Act;
"authorised registrar" means a company registrar engaged in the business of keeping of registers of members, and shareholders, debenture holders or unit holders for public companies or collective investment schemes which are its clients and performing other related functions for them;
"Authority" means the Capital Markets Authority established by section 4 ;
"beneficial owner" includes a natural person who is, alone or with an associate, the ultimate owner or controller of a legal person or arrangement or, if there is no legal person or arrangement, the person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted;
"body corporate" includes a company incorporated or registered under the Companies Act or any board corporate formed and registered under any other law in Uganda or any other jurisdiction;
"book" includes any register, document or other record of information and any account or accounting record however compiled, recorded or stored, whether in written or printed form or microfilm by electronic process or otherwise;
"broker" means a person who is-
a director of a member company; or
a partner of a member firm;
"broker or dealer's representative" means a person, in the direct employment of, or acting for, or by arrangement with, a broker or dealer, who performs for that broker or dealer any of the functions of a broker or dealer other than work ordinarily performed by accountants, clerks or cashiers, whether his or her remuneration is by way of salary, wages, commission or otherwise, and where the broker or dealer is a body corporate, includes any director or officer of the body corporate who performs for the body corporate any of those functions;
"capital markets" means a market where funds are raised from individual and institutional investors by companies and governments through sale of shares or issue of debt to fund the activities of the companies or governments;
"Chief Executive" means the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority appointed under section 9 ;
"collective investment scheme" has the same meaning as in the Collective Investment Schemes Act;
"commodities exchange" means a market exchange or a place where commodities and derivative products are offered for sale, purchase or exchange; and includes any clearing or settlement or transfer services connected with the transaction;
"company" means a company registered under the Companies Act or an existing company;
"Compensation Fund" means the Investor Compensation Fund established by section 90 ;
"controller" means an accountant who has responsibility for all accounting related activities within a firm or organisation;
"council", in relation to a stock exchange, means the persons for the time being in whom the management of the stock exchange is vested;
"court" means the court having jurisdiction under this Act;
"credit rating agency" means an organisation which provides the service of evaluating the relative credit worthiness of issuers of securities and assigning ratings to those securities;
"currency point" has the value assigned to it in Schedule 1 to this Act;
"custodian", means a financial institution or body corporate licensed or approved under this Act or the Collective Investment Schemes Act whose business includes taking responsibility for the safe custody of the cash, funds, securities, financial instruments, documents of title or assets of scheme funds or investors and performing related services;
"dealer" means a person who carries on a business of dealing in securities on that person's own account;
"dealing in securities" means, whether as principal or agent, making or offering to make with any person, or inducing or attempting to induce any person, to enter into or to offer to enter into-
any agreement for or with a view to acquiring, disposing of, subscribing for or underwriting securities; or
any agreement the purpose or intended purpose of which is to secure a profit to any of the parties from the yield of securities or by reference to fluctuations in the price of securities;
"depository" in relation to an investment company with variable capital, means the person with whom the property of the collective investment scheme is entrusted for safe keeping;
"derivative" means a standardised type of securities or financial instrument which derives its value from the value of the underlying assets, indices or interest rates;
"director" has the same meaning as assigned to it in the Companies Act;
"executive officer", in relation to a body corporate, means any person by whatever name called who is concerned or takes part in the management of the body corporate whether or not he or she is a director of the body corporate;
"financial instrument" includes securities, mortgage contracts, property contracts, pension contracts, insurance contracts, leasehold contracts, certificates of interest and any variations or derivatives;
"foreign regulatory authority" means a foreign authority which exercises regulatory functions corresponding to the functions of the Authority under a securities or other law or any person outside Uganda exercising such regulatory functions;
"fund manager" means a body corporate approved by the Authority which, under a contract or arrangement with a client, undertakes on behalf of a client whether on a discretionary authority granted by the client or otherwise, the management of a portfolio of securities for the purpose of investment or management of the assets of a collective investment scheme, or management of the portfolio of a registered venture capital fund;
"General Fund" means the General Fund established under section 10 ;
"governing council", in relation to a stock exchange, means the persons for the time being in whom the governance of the securities exchange is vested;
"investment adviser" means a body corporate-
that carries on a business of advising other persons on securities;
that as part of a regular business, issues or publishes, analyses or reports on securities; but does not include a person who is the proprietor of a newspaper where-
in so far as the newspaper is distributed generally to the public, it is distributed only to subscribers to, and purchasers of, the newspaper for value;
the advice is given or the analysis or reports are issued or published only through that newspaper;
that person receives no commission or other consideration for giving advice or for issuing or publishing the analyses or reports; and
the advice is given and the analyses and reports are issued or published solely as incidental to the conduct of that person's business as a newspaper proprietor; or
such other persons as the Authority may prescribe;
"investment house" means a non-deposit taking institution licensed by the Authority to advise on offers of securities to the public or a section of the public, takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, corporate restructuring involving companies listed or quoted on a securities exchange, privatisation of companies listed or to be listed on a securities exchange or underwriting of securities issued or to be issued to the public, and to engage in the business of a stockbroker or dealer;
"investment representative" means a person in the direct employment of, or acting for or by arrangement with, an investment adviser, who performs for the investment adviser any of the functions of an investment adviser, other than work ordinarily performed by accountants, clerks or cashiers, whether his or her remuneration is by way of salary, wages, commission or otherwise and includes any director or officer of a body corporate who performs for that body corporate any of those functions;
"key person" means any current or former controller, beneficial owner, director, manager, employee or associate of an approved person, and includes an agent;
"licence" means a licence granted under this Act;
"licensed person" means an individual or body corporate licensed by the Authority under this Act;
"listing rules", in relation to an approved stock exchange, means the rules governing or relating to-
the admission to the official list of the securities exchange of securities issued by companies or other bodies corporate, governments or other persons for the purpose of their quotation on the stock exchange, or for their removal from the official list and for other related purposes; or
the activities or conduct of companies or other bodies corporate, governments, and other persons, who are admitted to that list; whether those rules-
are made by the securities exchange or are contained in any of the constituent documents of the stock exchange; or
are made by another person and adopted by the stock exchange;
"market adviser" means a person licensed by the Authority under this Act to conduct the functions of a market adviser under the rules of a securities exchange;
"material" in relation to the definition of material information and the effect of information on the price or value of securities, is information that would, or would be likely, to influence persons who commonly invest in securities in deciding whether or not to buy or sell those securities;
"material information" in relation to an offer of securities to the public or an issuer of such securities is information that-
a reasonable person would expect, if it were generally available to the market, to have a material effect on the price or value of listed securities of the issuer; and
relates to particular securities, a particular issuer or issuers of securities to the public, rather than securities generally or issuers generally;
"member company" means a company which carries on a business of dealing in securities and is recognised as a dealing member by a stock exchange;
"member firm" means a partnership which carries on a business of dealing in securities and is recognised as a dealing member by a stock exchange;
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for finance;
"money laundering" means the process of turning illegitimately obtained property into seemingly legitimate property and it includes concealing or disguising the nature, source, location, disposition or movement of the proceeds of crime and any activity which constitutes a crime under section 119 of the AntiMoney Laundering Act;
"nominee" means a person who, in exercising a right in relation to a security, is entitled to exercise that right only in accordance with instructions given to that person either directly or indirectly or through an agency of one or more persons, and a person is the nominee of another person where he is entitled to exercise such a right only in accordance with instructions given by that person;
"offer" includes an invitation and any proposal to make an invitation to make an offer;
"officer" means an officer of the Authority and includes a member of the Authority's staff or an agent of the Authority;
"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under section 149 ;
"prescribed interest" means any right to participate, or any interest whether enforceable or not and whether actual, prospective or contingent-
in any profits, assets or realisation of any financial or business undertaking or scheme whether in Uganda or elsewhere;
in any enterprise, whether in Uganda or elsewhere, in relation to which the holder of the right or interest is led to expect profits, rent or interest from the efforts of the promoter of the enterprise or a third party; or
in any investment contract, whether or not the right or interest is evidenced by a formal document and whether or not the right or interest relates to a physical asset; but it does not include-
any share in or debenture of a body corporate;
any interest in or arising out of a policy of life insurance;
an interest in a partnership agreement, unless the agreement or proposed agreement-
relates to an undertaking, scheme, enterprise or investment contract promoted by or on behalf of a person whose ordinary business is or includes the promotion of similar undertakings, schemes, enterprises or investment contracts, whether or not that person is, or is to become, a party to the agreement or proposed agreement;
is or includes the promotion of similar undertakings, schemes, enterprises or investment contracts, whether or not that person is, or is to become, a party to the agreement or proposed agreement; or
is or would be an agreement, within a class of agreements, prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph; or
a right of interest, or a right of interest included in a class or kind of rights or interests, declared by regulations to be an exempt right or interest or a class or kind of exempt rights or interests;
"registered venture capital fund" means a company approved by the Authority and incorporated for purposes of providing risk capital to businesses in Uganda with high growth potential, whereby not less than eighty percent of the funds so invested consist of equity or quasi-equity investment in eligible enterprises;
"Registrar of Companies" means the Registrar of Companies under the Companies Act;
"regulated person" means any person who has been granted a licence under this Act, or under the Collective Investment Schemes Act, the Securities Central Depositaries Act or any other Act for whose administration the Authority is wholly or partly responsible or an approved or formerly approved securities exchange or any persons associated with such licensees or approved stock exchanges;
"regulations" means regulations made under section 149 ;
"relevant authority"-
in relation to a member company or member firm, means the stock exchange by which the company is recognised; and
in relation to any other person, means the Authority;
"relevant bodies" means the bodies specified in Schedule 2 to this Act;
"representative" means a person approved by the Authority who is in the employment of the approved person and plays a critical role in that company, and includes a trader, director, general manager, analyst or any other person employed by the licensee;
"rules", in relation to an approved stock exchange, means the rules governing the exchange or the conduct of its members, by whatever name called;
"securities" means-
debentures or bonds issued or proposed to be issued by a government;
debentures, shares, bonds or notes issued or proposed to be issued by a body corporate;
any right, warrant, option or future in respect of any debenture, shares, bonds, notes, depository receipts or in respect of commodities or derivatives;
units, interest or share offered under a collective investment scheme;
investment contracts;
any financial instruments, commonly known as securities, but does not include-
bills of exchange;
promissory notes; or
certificates of deposit issued by a bank or financial institution licensed under the Financial Institutions Act; or
any other instrument prescribed by the Authority to be a security;
"securities central depository" means a securities central depository approved by the Authority under section 5 of the Securities Central Depositaries Act;
"securities exchange" means a market, exchange, securities organisation or other place at which securities are offered for sale, purchase or exchange, including any clearing, settlement or transfer services connected with the transaction;
"self regulatory organisation" means a person that is organised for the purpose of regulating the operations and the standards of practice and business conduct, in capital markets, of its members and their representatives with a view to promoting the protection of investors and the public interest;
"shares" means the interest of members of a body corporate who are entitled to share in the capital or income of that body corporate and includes stock;
"stockbroker" means a person who carries on the business of buying or selling of securities as an agent for an investor in return for a commission;
"stock exchange" means a market, exchange or other place at which securities are offered for sale, purchase or exchange, including any clearing, settlement or transfer services connected with it;
"stock market" means a market, or other place at which, or a facility by means of which-
offers to sell, purchase or exchange securities are regularly made or accepted;
offers or invitations are regularly made, being offers or invitations that are intended or may reasonably be expected to result, whether directly or indirectly, in the making or acceptance of offers to sell, purchase or exchange securities; or
information is regularly provided concerning the prices at which, or the consideration for which, particular persons, or particular classes of persons, propose, or may be reasonably be expected, to sell, purchase or exchange securities;
"substantial shareholder" means a shareholder entitled to exercise or control the exercise of fifteen percent or more of the voting power at general meetings of the company or one who is in a position to control the composition of a majority of the board of directors of a company;
"suspicious transaction" for the purposes of money laundering means a transaction which is inconsistent with a client's known legitimate business or personal activities or with the normal business for that client's type of account or business relationship or a complex and unusual transaction or complex or unusual pattern of transactions that has no apparent or visible economic purpose;
"this Act" includes any regulations made under this Act;
"Tribunal" means the Capital Markets Tribunal established under Part XIII;
"trust account" means a trust account opened and maintained under section 81 ;
"underwriter" means a body corporate approved by the Authority to carry on or conduct the function of underwriting;
"underwriting" means the purchase or commitment to purchase or distribute any issue or offer of securities with a view to immediate or prompt public distribution by or through them;
"unit" has the same meaning as in the Collective Investment Schemes Act;
"unit trust scheme" has the same meaning as in the Collective Investment Schemes Act.
Section analysis Source linked
This section supplies the definitions or statutory meaning governing “Interpretation”.
“In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires "accountant" means a person enrolled as a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda in accordance with the Accountants Act;”
Use this definition when interpreting other provisions that employ the language addressed by “Interpretation”.
Operative requirements extracted from the consolidated text.
- "application duly made" means an application for a licence or approval under this Act in relation to which all documents and information required by this Act to be provided in support of the application and any further information required by the Authority have been provided by the applicant to the Authority;
- "approved person" means a regulated person and includes a person authorised by the Authority to carry out any activity under this Act or any other Act for whose administration the Authority is wholly or partly responsible;
- "approved stock exchange" means a securities exchange approved by the Authority under section 40;
- "arbitrage" means profiting from differences in price of the same security traded on two or more markets;
- "auditor" means a company auditor qualified as such under the Companies Act;
- "authorised person" means a person authorised by the Authority to carry on any activity under this Act;
- "authorised registrar" means a company registrar engaged in the business of keeping of registers of members, and shareholders, debenture holders or unit holders for public companies or collective investment schemes which are its clients and performing other related functions for them;
- "Authority" means the Capital Markets Authority established by section 4;
65 further items remain in the statutory text above.
Express propositions in source-matched passages from judgments citing this section.
No judgment in the current Wakilii corpus expressly cites this section. Bare rule-number references are not assigned where the Order cannot be verified.
No section-specific note is recorded. Act-level consolidation history:
- [Amended by Law Revision (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2023 (Act 17 of 2023) on 28 July 2023]
Act-level history only · Do not infer that every amendment changed this section