A year ago, on 12 June 2014, the royal decree imposing several obligations with respect to the information requirements as applicable upon the marketing of financial products to retail clients (the so-called “R.D. Transversal”) was published.
This regulatory initiative, meant inter alia to anticipate the upcoming European regulation on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (“PRIIPs”), had two main objectives: (a) to impose the provision of a standard information sheet upon the marketing of financial products to retail clients and (b) to regulate advertising of financial products.
The entry into force of the R.D. Transversal was initially scheduled for 12 June 2015. However, on 27 March 2015, the FSMA organised a public consultation on a draft royal decree whose main purpose was to postpone the entry into force of several requirements of the R.D. Transversal in order to avoid discrepancies with the upcoming PRIIPs regulation and other European initiatives, such as the revision of the Insurance Mediation Directive (also known as “IMD II”).
On 10 June 2015 (i.e. two days prior to the entry into force of the R.D. Transversal), the royal decree of 2nd June 2015 amending the R.D. Transversal (hereinafter the “Amending R.D.”) was published in the Belgian Official Gazette. The deferral of the entry into force of most of the requirements provided in the R.D. Transversal is now officially confirmed.
For more information, please see the presentation document hereunder.
