SICAV in the Czech Republic – success story of continuing failure?

Abstract

This paper explores the introduction of SICAV in Czech law, its development and the related difficulties including the tax perspective. Although this legal form helped to boost the collective investment sector in the Czech Republic, in particular for qualified investors’ funds, it is under constant threat of law amendments, which have a negative impact on further progress in the popularity of SICAVs as well as other forms of investment funds. SICAV, as a legal form governed by both private (corporate) and public (regulatory) law, presents a good example of how the two sets of partly autonomous rules may clash and cause undesirable effects. The paper highlights the main inefficiencies and discrepancies, which lead to interpretation difficulties and legal uncertainty. The hypothesis of this paper lies in investigating how local factors in one country, such as the influence of other pieces of legislation and tax environment, negatively impact solutions and models which are standardised and successfully deployed across the EU. It is argued that not only legal and regulatory aspects determine the popularity of investment funds, but a wider landscape, including the activities and approach of the supervisory authority and network of professionals (legal and tax advisors or auditors), plays a crucial role in capital markets development