Scanning Special June 2014

BELGIUM

ing and oral, in front of senior management in which they declare to fulfill their function with prudence and care and acting in the interests of the clients. The Banker’s Vow will get a wider scope and will be applicable for all employees of financial institutions as per 1 January 2015. The financial sector will work on a disciplinary law with ethical values in addition to the existing finan- cial law and the banker’s vow. Both the disciplinary law and the wider scope of the banker’s vow are part of the law amending the Dutch Act on Financial Su- pervision (Wijzigingswet financiële markten 2015), yet to be formally approved. TAX FATCA - Luxembourg and Belgium sign IGAS Background FATCA requires the identification of all US clients and investors (incl. certain non-US entities with controlling US persons) as well as gathering of rel- evant account/capital balances and global income and proceeds. Generally, all foreign financial insti- tutions ("FFI") must adapt new client on-board- ing and monitoring procedures for identifying US customers. The FFI definition is very extensive and includes banks, insurance undertakings and in- vestment vehicles. Service providers are likely to be indirectly impacted. FFIs which do not make the agreement with the IRS and the process modifications in time or which re- fuse to comply with the regulation will face a 30% withholding tax on US sourced income for pay- ments made on or after 1 July 2014 (and as from 1 January 2017 on gross proceeds, which can pro- duce interest or dividends that are US source FDAP income) - regardless of whether they have US cli- ents or not. As from 1 January 2017, certain non- US sourced income ('foreign passthru payments') might become subject to withholding as well. What’s in there? The United States and the Grand-Duchy of Luxem- bourg announced on 28 March 2014 that they have signed an Intergovernmental Agreement ("IGA") to improve international tax compliance and to imple- ment FATCA. The United States and the Kingdom of Belgium an- nounced on April 25 2014 that they have signed on 23 April 2014 their IGA intended to implement FATCA in Belgium.

Draft Belgian law to modify the law of 3 August 2012 on certain forms of collective management of investment portfolio On 3 April 2014, the Belgian Chamber of represent- atives voted a draft law modifying several Belgian laws, and in particular the law of 3 August 2012 on certain forms of collective management of invest- ment portfolio: the administrators and the effective managers of UCITS offering shares to the Belgian public will be only natural persons. Legal entities will be prohibited as administrators and/ or effective managers in those public UCITS. The draft law has not been published in the Belgian Gazette yet. Banker’s Vow: Compliance Requirements in financial sector in the Netherlands The Dutch government has decided to create poli- cies including special requirements for policy mem- bers and employees of financial institutions.As per 1 January 2014, the official policy members of finan- cial institutions are held to make a vow, both in writ- NETHERLANDS

porate form while also meeting the requirements of certain US investors and US focused investment managers’ for US “flow-through” tax treatment. To date, this has been a significant gap in Ire- land’s investment funds offering when compared to competing jurisdictions, as an Irish corporate fund could only be established in the form of a plc and as such was not an “eligible entity” for the US “Check the Box” rules. The introduction of the ICAV fills this gap as it is expected to be considered an “eligible entity” for these purposes existing funds will have the option to convert to ICAV status. Publication by Central Bank of Ireland of a UCITS Rulebook and First UCITS Q&A The Central Bank of Ireland has published a con- sultation on a UCITS Rulebook (CP77). It proposes publishing a UCITS Rulebook which will consoli- date into one document all of the conditions which the Central Bank imposes on UCITS, their man- agement companies and depositaries. In addition, the question arises as to whether any aspects of the current regulatory regime which are within the discretion of the Central Bank are no longer nec- essary or appropriate. The format of the UCITS Rulebook follows closely that of the AIF Rulebook. It contains the following three chapters: (a) Product Requirements. (b) Management Company Requirements. (c) Depositary Requirements. Draft versions of each of these chapters form part of this consultation which closed on 28 March 2014.

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