Open-Ended Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (UCITS)

The UCITS law 225(I) 2002 provides the legal framework for the registration, regulation and marketing of local and foreign funds in Cyprus. Under this law UCITS is considered to be any organization whose sole aim is to collectively invest publicly collected capital, in transferable securities via stock markets, banking deposits and any other investments and whose operation is based on the principle risk of diversification and whose units can be liquidated by the unit holder on request using the assets of the organization.

As such the following are not considered to be UCITS under the law:

• UCITS which are not open ended
• UCITS that do not market to the public in Cyprus or other EU member states
• UCITS that based on their fund rules or constitutional documents only make their units available to the public in other countries except Cyprus.
• UCITS for which due to their investment and borrowing policy the rules of the law 225(I) 2002 are not suitable.
  Under this law, local UCITS may take the following legal forms:
• Mutual Funds
• Variable Capital Investment companies