The PRIIPs Regulation1 introduces the so-called Key Information Document (the so-called “KID”) which will have to be provided to retail consumers when they buy retail and insurance-based investment products. These include asset management products and other "packaged" investment products sold by banks or insurance companies.
On 14 September 2016, the European Parliament has objected to a draft delegated regulation2 (Draft RTS andDraft RTS annexes) of the European Commission containing regulatory technical standards (RTS) with regard to (i) the presentation, content, review and revision of KIDs and (ii) the technical conditions that have to be met to fulfil the obligation to provide such documents.
In its press release, the Parliament stated that the draft legislation designed to protect retail investors was rejected by MEPs on as so “flawed and misleading” that it could actually lose them money’. Therefore, it will unusually be returned to the Commission for revision.
As the PRIIPs Regulation is due to come into force on 31 December 2016, the European Parliament has requested the European Commission to consider a proposal postponing the date of entry into force of the PRIIPs Regulation.
On the Belgian side, the national legislator has anticipated the PRIIPs Regulation with the adoption on 25 April 2014 of the Royal Decree concerning certain information requirements for the distribution of financial products to non-professional clients (the so-called “Transversal Royal Decree”).
The entry into force of the provisions transposing the PRIIPs Regulation has, however, been postponed by the Royal Decree of 2 June 2015 to a currently undetermined date.
The “postponed” provisions are the provisions with respect to the mandatory and voluntary information sheet (which implements the PRIIPs KID requirements); the requirement to include a risk label in any advertisement, announcement or other document and Articles 22, e and 23 with respect to future performance of financial products which are linked to the performance of financial assets, indices or reference portfolios and, if applicable, the obligation to retake unchanged the numerical examples from the KID in the marketing documents. In the Annex of the Transversal Royal Decree the legislator has even given ready-to-use templates per type of investment product.
It is not sure what the Belgian legislator will do next and when. There is currently no public information available on this.
1 Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products.
2 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) …/... of 30.6.2016 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs) by laying down regulatory technical standards with regard to the presentation, content, review and revision of key information documents and the conditions for fulfilling the requirement to provide such documents
