UK UCITS regime

The UCITS Directive

The original UCITS Directive 85/611/EEC (the Original UCITS Directive) on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to UCITS was adopted in 1985. Since then the UCITS regime has undergone several changes under UCITS III, Directive 2009/65/EC (the UCITS Directive or UCITS IV) which repealed the Original UCITS Directive in 2011, and Directive 2014/91/EU (UCITS V).

The UCITS Directive provides a framework to allow open-ended collective investment undertakings in the form of UCITS to be promoted to the general public across the EU, irrespective of which Member State the UCITS is authorised in, while at the same time ensuring more effective and uniform protection for investors.

For information about the UCITS regulatory framework in the EU, see Practice Note: EU Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS)—essentials.

The regulation of UCITS in the UK

UCITS are a form of collective investment scheme (CIS). A CIS is defined under section 235 of Financial...