Political and regulatory news
Issue 3 - 22 July 2010
AIFM Directive agreement delayed
European policymakers have missed their self-imposed deadline to agree the AIFM Directive by July.
Negotiations between Member States, MEPs and the Commission on the content of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers’ (AIFM) Directive have stalled (see previous article). The intention was for agreement to be concluded and for the Directive to be adopted by the European Parliament in July. The deadline has been missed.
At this stage of the legislative process, the Commission, Council of Ministers and the European Parliament seek to integrate their own versions of the AIFM Directive to produce an agreed text. However, discussions have reached a deadlock on a number of critical and contentious issues, most notably the marketing of non-EU funds to EU investors, the role and responsibilities of depositaries and on private equity obligations.
The AIC’s priorities have been to minimise the impact of regulations which would uniquely disadvantage the investment company sector and to reduce the general costs of compliance. Key structural issues should be resolved in the final text, and it is hoped the current stalemate will not disrupt this. General compliance burdens will be improved significantly from the original proposals, but will still be increased. By precisely how much is unclear in advance of the final text being published.
The delay in agreement was confirmed on 24 June 2010 by the Spanish Presidency. Commenting on developments, Jean-Paul Gauzes, the Parliament's Rapporteur on the draft AIFM Directive, said “I have yesterday taken the decision to delay the [European Parliament] vote until the second parliamentary session in September”. Negotiations will therefore continue over the summer. Once Parliamentary approval has been obtained, it is still anticipated that the period for implementing the new rules into national legislation will be two years, so under the revised timetable the Directive is expected to enter into force in the UK in 2012/13.
Next article: Europe seeks harmonised investment product distribution
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