France Transposes AIFMD Into National Law

France has transposed the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) into national law on July 24, after being adopted by the Council of Ministers.

The French financial management association (AFG) points out that the legislation clarifies and simplifies the names of French funds, with only two major categories, UCITS-compliant mutual funds and AIFMD-compliant alternative investment funds (AIFs). AIFs can also be further broken down into funds open to general investors, funds open to professional investors, FCPE employee saving funds, etc.

AFG also notes that AIFMD-compliant AIFs and French firms can use passporting procedures to service European clients.

France joins Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, the U.K., Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic as member states with full legislative transposition of the directive. Member states that have submitted legislation for parliamentary approval include Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Romania and Hungary. Meanwhile, Belgium, Finland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain have not yet started the process, and Estonia, Greece, Lithuania and Poland are still awaiting clarification.