EUROPE: European Commission announces Expert Group on open-ended real estate funds

Monday April 2 2007

The European Commission has decided to establish an expert group on open-ended real estate funds, which provide consumers with access to professionally managed investments in commercial and other types of property. The group will advise the Commission on how to improve the European market for these funds and on whether EU-level action in this area would deliver benefits for industry and investors. It will also explore cost-effective ways to achieve those benefits.

The Commission will publish the final composition of the group before 30 May 2007. The creation of this group is a follow-up action to the Commission White Paper on enhancing the EU framework for investment funds (IP/06/1569).

The expert group will produce a report at the start of 2008 that will provide important input to policy reflection and serve as a starting point for debate and discussion with Member State authorities and other stakeholders. The report will not be considered as necessarily reflecting the views of the Commission.

The group’s task will be to advise the Commission on the risk and performance characteristics of open-ended real estate funds, and to:

* Describe the European market for real estate funds, including open-ended funds;

* Analyse the existing or likely future demand for providing open-ended real estate funds across borders;

* Examine the barriers to cross-border development of open-ended real estate funds;

* Evaluate existing national regulatory (including tax) approaches to open-ended real estate funds.

The group is scheduled to start work in June 2007. The terms of reference and procedures for the group’s constitution are available at the above link.