No C 333/10 Official Journal of the European Communities 29. 12. 86
241st PLENARY SESSION NOVEMBER 1986
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 85/611/EEC on the
coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for
collective investments in transferable securities (UCITS) as far as concerns the investment
policy of certain UCITS(1)
(86/C 333/03)
On 23 June 1986 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the
abovementioned proposal.
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 5 November 1986, in the light
of the report by Mr Spijkers.
At its 241st plenary session (meeting of 26 November 1986) the Economic and Social
Committee adopted the following opinion by a unanimous vote:
The Committee approves the draft Directive but would
make the following comments:
1. The Committee endorses the objectives of the
Directive, namely that the practices which some Mem-
ber States authorize their UCITS to engage in should
be permissible throughout the Community. Certain
rules and conditions must, however, be observed to
ensure that the guarantees provided by mortgage credit
bonds are comparable to those offered by government
bonds, the aim being to guarantee investors equivalent
protection (2).
2. Normally this Directive would enter into force on
the same date as that referred to in Article 57 of Direc-
(') OJ No C 155, 21. 6. 1986, p. 4.
(2) To avoid any distortion of competition, these rules and con-
ditions should be harmonized and set out in the Directive
itself.
tive 85/611/EEC, viz. 1 October 1989. On no account
may its entry into force bev deferred: during the tran-
sitional period prior to this date some practical prob-
lems may indeed arise from the fact that some Member
States already meet the Directive's requirements and
may therefore prevent the marketing on their territory
of the units of UCITS established in other Member
States which have not yet implemented the Directive.
3. As far as 'parallel' UCITS are concerned, the
Committee wonders whether a better solution to the
problem would not be to amend Article 24 (2) of Direc-
tive 85/611/EEC to the effect that all UCITS may invest
in the units of companies which are not themselves
UCITS unit holders; details and ratios would then have
to be laid down. In this way there would be no need
for Article 26(a) which is highly complicated and not
entirely practicable.
Done at Brussels, 26 November 1986.
The Chairman
of the Economic and Social Committee
Alfons MARGOT
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy