Introduction to Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS)

UCITS established in Ireland are authorised under the European Communities (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) Regulations 2011 (“the UCITS Regulations”). The UCITS Regulations, which transpose Council Directive 2009/65/EC, Commission Directive 2010/43/EC and Commission Directive 2010/44/EC into Irish law, are effective from 1 July 2011.

UCITS are open-ended investment funds and may be established as:

  • Unit trusts;
  • Common contractual funds;
  • Variable or fixed capital companies; or
  • Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles (ICAVs).

The Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Section 48(1)) (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (the "Central Bank UCITS Regulations") consolidate into one location all of the requirements which the Central Bank imposes on UCITS, UCITS management companies and depositories of UCITS.

In addition, the Central Bank has issued guidance on a number of topics to assist users of the UCITS Regulations.

UCITS Inward Marketing Requirements

Requirements for UCITS authorised in another Member State intending to market its units in Ireland

Information on the relevant laws, regulations and administrative provisions which are specifically relevant to the arrangements made for the marketing of UCITS established in other Member States is set out here.

If a UCITS established in another Member State proposes to market its units in Ireland, the UCITS must ensure that its home state competent authority provides the Central Bank the documentation specified in Article 93 of the UCITS Directive as well as an attestation certifying that the UCITS complies with the conditions imposed by Directive 2009/65/EC. This notification must be submitted to [email protected]

If a UCITS proposes to make an amendment impacting on the marketing communicated in the notification letter or a change regarding share classes to be marketed, the UCITS must notify the Central Bank of this amendment prior to implementing it. This notification must be submitted to [email protected].

UCITS Outward Marketing Requirements

Requirements for Irish authorised UCITS seeking to market its units in another Member State

Directive 2009/65/EC provides that from 1 July 2011 notification by a UCITS seeking to market into another Member State will be issued between the relevant competent authorities and this transmission is to be performed on an electronic basis.

The Central Bank's requirements for UCITS authorised under the Regulations are set out in the Central Bank UCITS Regulations.

Where an Irish UCITS wishes to market its units in another Member State it must transmit a notification letter to the Central Bank that contains information in relation to the marketing requirements of the host Member State as well as the latest versions of the UCITS documents. This notification letter must be submitted via the Central Bank Portal. Please see the relevant Guidance Document re making submissions via the Central Bank Portal.

In relation to specific administrative requirements regarding the notification, the following points are relevant:

  • The notification must be complete and accurate, any incomplete submissions will not be accepted and will require a full re-submission
  • An individual notification is required for each Member State to which the UCITS is seeking to market
  • All submissions must be transmitted via Portal and should not exceed 100 MB
  • Supporting documentation should use pdf, doc or docx format
  • UCITS must ensure that the relevant supporting documents submitted with its notification as per Article 93(2) of Directive 2009/65/EC are available electronically on a website. Details of this website must be provided in the notification letter
  • The Central Bank will inform the UCITS when transmission to the relevant host Member State competent authority has taken place.

In the case of a de-notification, where the Irish UCITS no longer wishes to market its units in another Member State, the UCITS needs to submit a de-notification letter to the Central Bank. The de-notification letter should be submitted via the Central Bank Portal.

In the case of a de-registration of a share class(es), where the Irish UCITS no longer wishes to market those particular share class(es) of a sub-fund in another Member State, the UCITS should submit a share class de-registration letter to the Central Bank. This letter should only be submitted when the UCITS is de-registering some, but not all, of its share classes of a particular sub-fund in the relevant Member State. The de-registration letter should be submitted to [email protected].

Submission of Key Investor Information Document ("KIID")

From 1 July 2011 all UCITS are required to publish a Key Investor Information Document ("KIID"), in accordance with the following guidance.

In the case of a newly authorised UCITS the KIID forms part of the authorisation documentation. In the case of an existing UCITS, the KIID (or an amended KIID) and the confirmation from the UCITS or its legal advisor must be forwarded by email to the Central Bank at [email protected] until 15 February 2021.

From 15 February 2021, UCITS KIID filings as per above should be submitted via Portal using the “UCITS KIID Update” Request Change.

In the case of annual updates of KIID these should be filed via the Central Bank Portal.

A separate filing for KIID must be made for each UCITS.