UCITS / OGAW
UCITS is the abbreviation for Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities, a European Guideline for Funds and their Management Companies. These are referred to in the Directive as “collective investment undertakings”, UCITS for short. UCITS is therefore also known as the UCITS Directive.
The guideline defines u.a. the authorization of a UCITS, the types of eligible assets in which it may invest (eligible assets) or the investor information obligation. UCITS are also subject to financial supervision.
The result of the European regulation was that access to the pan-European market for UCITS was considerably simplified. Subject to an advertisement, they may be offered to the public in all EEA countries (EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) as long as there is a license in the country of origin. This procedure was further simplified in 2009 with the last valid Directive 2009/65 / EC.