BELGIUM: Amendments to law on collective investment undertakings

Thursday August 8 2013

It has been reported that, on the 6th August 2013, the Belgian Law transposing Directive 2010/73/EU amending the Prospectus and the Transparency Directives was published in the Belgian State Gazette. Notably, the new amended law introduces changes to the Law on Collective Investment Undertakings of 3rd August 2012. This law sets out the Belgian regulatory framework applicable to collective investment undertakings (UCI`s), and applies to both UCI`s of the closed-end type as well as UCI`s of the open-end type.

The Prospectus Law previously only contained rules applicable to open-ended UCI’s in relation to the obligation to publish a prospectus. However, as a result of the new Law, the rules on advertisements in relation to offers of closed-end UCI`s, which were previously set out in the Law on Collective Investment Undertakings have now been inserted into the new amended Prospectus Law.

In addition, the legislator has brought the definition of a “public” offer under the Law on Collective Investment Undertakings in line with the amended definition of “public” offer under the Prospectus Law. This is important because the definition of “public” offer is also used to determine whether the UCI is “public” and therefore subject to regulatory requirements.

The Law enters into force on 16 August 2013, but does not apply to transactions that are ongoing on the date of its entry into force. The UCI`s existing as at the date of entry into force of the Law will also retain their qualification (e.g. as “public” UCI) despite the amendments introduced by the Law.

This information will be updated as soon as further details become available.