Deadline for Benchmark Regulation

On 30 October 2017, the CSSF published a Press Release stating that the Benchmark Regulation ("BMR")¹ will apply from 1 January 2018² . As a reminder, from that date, prospectuses issued in accordance with the Prospectus Directive and the UCITS Directive should in principle include clear and prominent information stating whether the benchmark is provided by an administrator included in the register maintained by ESMA. However, UCITS prospectuses approved before that date must update their underlying documents at the first occasion or within 12 months at the latest. The CSSF missed the opportunity to clarify the reference used in BMR to "underlying documents"³ .

A Bill of Law (7164) implementing BMR in Luxembourg was deposited with the Parliament on 4 August 2017. The Bill of Law notably designates the CSSF as the competent authority in Luxembourg.  On 8 November 2017, ESMA also published an updated version of its Q&A on BMR.

More information on this Regulation is available in our Newsletter December 2016 and the article "Benchmark Regulation: Key features and impact on investment funds" published on our website.