URGENT/ACTION REQUESTED
[18242]
November 23, 2004
TO: INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE No. 52-04
RE: DRAFT INSTITUTE COMMENT LETTER ON UCITS IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES
Attached is a draft letter to the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) on
issues relating to the transitional provisions and implementation of the UCITS Directive.
Comments are due to CESR on December 8, 2004. If you have any comments on the draft letter,
please contact me at (202) 326-5810 or jchoi@ici.org by December 3, 2004.
Generally, the draft letter urges CESR to exert peer pressure to prevent Member States
from diverging from the voluntary guidelines that are ultimately adopted. The letter states that
it would be important that UCITS funds not be subject to conflicting requirements in different
Member States if a pan-European UCITS market is to be successful.
The draft letter also makes three specific comments. First, the letter recommends that
CESR require a product passport (but no management company passport) if a management
company only wishes to distribute UCITS funds managed by itself in a host Member State.
Second, the letter expresses concern with CESR’s view that open-ended investment companies
may only designate a management company in the same EU jurisdiction as the UCITS fund. In
effect, this interpretation would mean that a management company and its UCITS funds must
be located in the same Member State. Finally, the letter seeks clarification whether UCITS I
umbrella funds that launched subfunds between February 13, 2002 and February 13, 2004
would have to convert to UCITS III umbrella funds by December 31, 2005.
Jennifer S. Choi
Associate Counsel
Attachment (in .pdf format)