On 17 May 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an Opinion to the European Commission with suggested clarifications of the legislative provisions under the UCITS Directive and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive relating to the notion of “undue costs”. The Opinion follows a Common Supervisory Action on the supervision of costs and fees of UCITS across the EU/EEA which ESMA launched in January 2021.

The European Commission is working on policy proposals in the context of the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) to empower retail investors and enhance their participation in the capital markets. ESMA welcomes the Commission’s initiative and is confident that the Opinion can be taken into consideration in the upcoming Commission’s legislative proposals on the RIS.