The European Commission published in July 2005 a Green Paper on Enhancing the European Framework for Investment Funds (COM (2005) 314 final). The Green Paper examines the existing European legislation, questioning areas where the legislative framework may be further developed to deal with some of the main structural challenges confronting the EU fund industry. The European Parliament’s ECON Committee is currently examining a draft Report (rapporteur Wolf Klinz, ALDE D), which was the topic of a recent committee public hearing. Based on the discussions to date, the vast majority of stakeholders, including the European Commission and the European Parliament, does not believe that there is a need for an overhaul of EU legislation at the current time. Instead, the debate has split into two parts: firstly, the short-term debate focusing more on the implementation of UCITS III and the improvement of certain provisions of the directive and secondly the long-term challenges of creating a genuine European internal market.

The Commission is due to publish a White Paper in October 2006.