21 October 2004

CESR consultation on UCITS III

CESR launches a consultation on guidance for regulators on how to apply transitional provisions implementing the transitional provisions of the amending UCITS Directives. The amending UCITS Directive introduced in 2001, the so-called UCITS III contain a number of transitional provisions which apply both to UCITS I funds and to grandfathered management companies.

The draft guidelines presented for consultation have been developed to converge the different administrative practices which have arisen in Member States due to the uncertainties introduced by these amending Directives over the transitional arrangements. Once in place, the guidelines should therefore put an end to the uncertainties faced by market participants and should remove the existing single market barriers experienced by UCITS fund providers during this interim period.

The guidelines seek to clarify:

Issues related to the marketing of funds and the simplified prospectus;

Issues related to the scope of permissible activities of grandfathered management companies;

Issues related to UCITS launched after February 2002 which benefit from a “grace period”;

similar issues related to grandfathered UCITS I umbrella funds which have launched further sub-funds after February 2002;

Practical questions related to the scope of the European passport and problems resulting from the relationship between the management company’s passport and the fund’s passport.

Closing date of the consultation is 8 December 2004.
A hearing will be held on 18 November.

Press release
Document

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