New Draft Bill to strengthen Germany as a Fund Jurisdiction

As at 20 January 2021, the German Ministry of Finance published a draft bill (last editing 12 January 2021) to strengthen Germany as a fund jurisdiction and the implementation of the directive (EU) 2019/1160 amending Directives 2009/65/EC and 2011/61/EU with regard to cross-border distribution of collective investment undertakings (“Draft Bill”). As such the Draft Bill, amongst others will amend the German investment code (“KAGB-Draft”), the German income tax act (“EStG-Draft”), the German value added tax act (“UStG-Draft”) and the German investment tax act (“InvStG-Draft”).

In addition to the implementation of the EU cross border distribution directive into German law, the legislator took aim to eliminate existing barriers in order to make Germany more competitive as a fund jurisdiction but without jeopardizing the high standards of investor protection.