A competitive regulatory framework

The Swedish investment fund legislation is primarily based upon the UCITS Directive.

UCITS is an abbreviation of the English name of the Directive (undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities).

A new directive, UCITS IV, will be implemented in Swedish law by August 2011.
Read more about UCITS IV here.

The original Directive "Council Directive 85/611/EEC of 20 December 1985 on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS)" has been amended throughout the years by Directives 88/220/EEC, 95/26/EC and 2000/64/EC.

During 2001 the latest and most sweeping amendments entered into force through the Directives 2001/107/EC and 2001/108/EC. This "package" is commonly referred to as UCITS III. A copy of the unofficial consolidated UCITS Directive can be found under "Legislation".

These Directives have been implemented in Sweden through the Swedish Investment Funds Act (2004:46), which also contain new national legislation only applicable to Swedish investment funds and fund management companies. An English translation of the Act can be downloaded under "Legislation".

Further, the Swedish Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) has issued complementary ordinances (FFFS 2004:2 and 2004:3). FFFS 2004:3 is solely dedicated to regulate the activities of foreign registered investment funds and fund management companies. Finansinspektionen is currently translating FFFS 2004:3 into English and we expect a final version to be available online during the beginning of 2005.

The Swedish Investment Fund Association has also issued guidelines in several areas, including accounting standards, financial advice and marketing of investment funds. The guidelines can be downloaded under "Guidelines".

Under the headline "Tax rules" the Association has published a short paper, which summarizes some of the taxation rules for Swedish unit-holders. The Association also have a more detailed paper describing taxation for investment funds and fund management companies. This is however only distributed to members.

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