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FRANCE Modifications of conditions of admission to trading of UCITS and AIFs and of the depositary regime applicable to securitization instruments Background On November 6 th was published in the Official Jour- nal of the French Republic (“JORF”) the Order of October 28th 2014 approving amendments made to the Books III and IV of the General Regulation of the French Financial Markets Authority (the “RG AMF”). These amendments relate to (i) modalities of admission to trading of the UCITS and AIFs and (ii) to modifications of the Depositary Regime applica- ble to securitization instruments covered by Article L.214-167 of the Financial and Monetary Code (“the CMF”). What’s in there? AMENDMENTS OF RGAMF – BOOK IV REGARDING MODALITIES OF ADMISSION TO TRADING OF UCITS AND AIFS Rules introduced by Articles 411-133 (UCITS) and 421-27-1 (AIF) of the CMF provide that manage- ment companies shall give to the public specific and prior information regarding the admission to trading of UCITS and AIFs. Content of these information will be defined in a future instruction. Regime of information also applies to foreign funds (UCITS and AIFs) marketed in France by negotiation at net asset value. Provisions about marketing of AIFs (negotiation at net asset value) and UCITS (co- tation of index funds) are currently included in the general provisions regarding the AIFs – provisions regarding cotation of index funds were previously included into the specific measures applicable to funds open to non-professional clients. MODIFICATIONS REGARDING THE DEPOSI- TARY REGIME APPLICABLE TO SECURITIZATION INSTRUMENTS Chapter II of Book III of the RG AMF regarding the custodian introduces securitization instruments.

amongst tax authorities of relevant data in relation to financial assets. The CRS is based on the US For- eign Accounting Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) and in particular on the FATCA Intergovernmental Agree- ment Model. Ultimately, the CRS aims at facilitating the au- tomatic exchange of information of account information from financial institutions between governments. What’s in there? On 14 October 2014, the Luxembourg Finance Min- ister signed the amended European Council’s draft Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation to implement the CRS. This amended Directive will increase the scope of the mandatory automatic exchange of information between EU tax administrations and signature by Luxembourg’s at this stage underlines its willing- ness to be one of the early adopter of CRS. The updated Directive includes the exchange of in- formation linked to account balances, interest, div- idend, capital gains and all types of income derived from financial assets (derivatives, investment funds, insurance products, etc.). While the entry into force of this Directive is envisaged for 1 January 2016, the first reporting will take place in 2017. What’s next? The current EU Savings Directive automatic ex- change of information on interest income is ex- pected to be implemented in Luxembourg as from 1 January 2015. However, it seems that it will be replaced as from 1 January 2016 by the automatic exchange of infor- mation based on the updated Directive on adminis- trative cooperation and the CRS.

VAT Authorities announce amended VAT rates Background On 15 October 2015, a draft law amending the Lux- embourg VAT law was published in the context of the budget law for 2015. What’s in there? The current reduced, intermediary and standard VAT rates will be increased by 2 percentage points to become 8%, 14% and 17% respectively as from 1 January 2015. The super reduced rate of 3% will not be increased but its application in terms of scope will be revised. What’s next? The Luxembourg VAT Authorities have published a newsletter on their website which includes guide- lines regarding the increase of the VAT rates. Broadly speaking, the Luxembourg VAT Authorities indicate that there would be no specific transitional rules (except essentially for the letting of dwellings) and the normal VAT rules around chargeable events and tax point will apply. OECD - Common Reporting Standard – Luxembourg as an early adopter Background The OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) was officially published on 21 July 2014 and seeks to establish a global methodology for the sharing THE NEWSLETTER IS AVAILABLE HERE.

THE FULL TEXT OF THE AMENDING DIRECTIVE CAN BE VIEWED HERE.

THE OECD COMMON REPORTING STANDARD IS AVAILABLE HERE.

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