On 27 July 2026, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) published a circular (the Circular) clarifying that investments falling within the scope of the German Capital Investment Act (Vermögensanlagengesetz – CIA) will generally not be classified as packaged retail investment products (PRIIPs) for the purposes of the PRIIPs Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014).
Under Article 4(1) of the PRIIPs Regulation, a packaged retail investment product, or PRIP, is an investment where, irrespective of its legal form, the amount repayable to a retail investor is subject to fluctuations arising from exposure to reference values or to the performance of one or more assets that are not directly purchased by that investor. Such products are characterised by an element of “packaging” or “wrapping”, whereby assets are combined to create exposures, product features or cost structures that differ from those associated with direct ownership. This is reflected in Recital 6 of the PRIIPs Regulation.
Conversely, assets held directly by investors, such as shares in companies or sovereign bonds, do not constitute PRIIPs and therefore fall outside the scope of the PRIIPs Regulation, as confirmed by Recital 7.
Applying these principles to capital investments governed by the CIA (CIs), BaFin notes that such investments typically possess the characteristics of entrepreneurial participations, with their value generally determined by the performance of the underlying undertaking itself. Accordingly, BaFin’s established administrative practice is that CIs do not, as a general rule, constitute PRIPs within the meaning of the PRIIPs Regulation.
As a consequence, issuers of CIs are not required to prepare and publish a Key Information Document (KID) under the PRIIPs Regulation. Instead, they must prepare a Capital Investment Information Sheet (Vermögensanlagen-Informationsblatt – VIB) in accordance with Section 13 of the CIA. The VIB must be approved by BaFin and submitted to the competent authority.
However, BaFin concludes the Circular by noting that, in light of the wide variety of potential investment structures, particularly those falling within the catch-all provision contained in Section 1(2) No. 7 of the CIA, it cannot be excluded that certain CIs may qualify as PRIPs in individual cases. The Circular does not provide any further guidance as to the circumstances in which such exceptions may arise.
The Circular is effective as of 27 July 2026.