ESMA publishes first overview of national rules governing fund marketing

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU securities markets regulator, has submitted to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission its first report on national rules governing the marketing of investment funds under the Regulation on cross-border distribution of funds.

In this report, ESMA provides an overview of the marketing requirements across Member States, and analyses the effects of national laws, regulations and administrative provisions governing the marketing of investment funds. The report is based on responses provided by National Competent Authorities (NCAs) to two questionnaires prepared by ESMA.

Key findings:

• National laws, regulations and administrative provisions governing marketing requirements are usually based on the transposition of the AIFMD and the UCITS Directive, although NCAs’ responses showed that some additional national requirements may be applicable.
• Only a very limited number of NCAs carry out ex-ante or ex-post verification or marketing communications.
• It is expected that greater harmonisation of the marketing requirements will be achieved after the transposition of the Directive on cross-border distribution of collective investment undertakings by 2 August 2021.