Joint Report of the 3L3 Task Force on PRIPs

On 6 October 2010, a task force of the three Level 3 Committees, comprising the Committee of European Securities Regulators (“CESR”), the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (“CEBS”) and the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (“CEIOPS”), published a joint report (the “Report”) on packaged retail investment products (“PRIPs”).1

The task force was established following the announcement by the European Commission (the “Commission”) in April 2009 of its initiative on packaged retail investment products (“PRIPs”), in order to assist the Commission’s ongoing work on this policy area as it formulates the legislative proposals.2

In a covering letter to the Commission,3 the Committees explained that they had sought to form consensual views, but that not all parts of the Report were consensual. Alternative positions have been expressed where a consensus has not been possible and further discussion among the task force members is required.

The Report focused on three key aspects of PRIPs: (i) the scope of the PRIPs regime; (ii) the product disclosure requirements for PRIPs; and (iii) the regulation of their selling practices.

We summarise below the main comments and suggestions of the task force contained in the Report.