Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) are (mainly) retail investment funds regulated at European Union (EU) level. Following the adoption of the first relevant EU (European Economic Community at that time) Directive in 1985, UCITS have established themselves during the course of time, as a reputed retail investment product both within as well as outside the EU. The first UCITS Directive of 1985 (85/611/EEC) has been repealed in 2009 by the so called UCITS IV Directive (2009/65/EC), whereas amendments had taken place in the meantime, e.g. as to the eligible assets, in which a UCITS may invest.
The UCITS IV Directive has been transposed into Cypriot Law by Law 78 of 2012 on Open Ended Undertakings for Collective Investment as amended (UCI Law). As to the current state of things, the UCI Law will have to undergo significant amendments by March 2016. The reason is that an EU Directive amending the UCITS IV Directive, the so called UCITS V Directive (2014/91/EU), will be entering into effect at that time and will subsequently have to be transposed into Cypriot law by then.
Regarding regulation and supervision of UCITS in Cyprus the competent authority therefore, including the imposition of administrative sanctions, is the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).