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5. Does a webpage that contains only a list of UCIs and/or subfunds and/or share classes, along with the legally required documentation (including the most recent net asset value), constitute an advertisement or other document or announcement?

Communications whose content is regulated by legislation and whose publication is mandatory do not constitute advertisements or other documents and announcements distributed when selling financial products, since they are not distributed on a voluntary basis by the manufacturer, regulated distributor or regulated intermediary insofar as these are in a position to issue, transfer or open the financial products concerned, or by a person acting on their behalf.

The circumstance that the name of the UCIs1 is mentioned in addition to the legally required documentation on a webpage is not in itself sufficient grounds to call this analysis into question. The purpose of mentioning the name of the UCIs, which in fact also appears in the legally required documentation, is principally to enhance the readability of the website by filing the legally required documents under the name of the UCI to which they refer.

Lastly, simply adding the most recent net asset value to the other legally required information likewise does not give grounds for calling this analysis into question. Both the method of calculation and the publication of the net asset values are laid down in a royal decree. The most recent net asset value is therefore part of the legally required documentation regarding the UCI (even if it is disseminated by a channel other than the legally required one).

A webpage that contains only a list of UCIs and/or subfunds and/or share classes along with the legally required documentation (including the most recent net asset value) therefore does not constitute an advertisement or other document or announcement. This is the case, however, only if such a page is clearly distinct from all other pages of the website in question, and if the page in question does not contain any other information or any link or cross-reference to other information.


1 The term UCI refers, in this FAQ, to undertakings for collective investment meeting the conditions of Directive 2009/65/EC and open-ended public alternative investment funds, or their sub-funds and share classes, if any.