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Fund managers (“AIFMs”), which are subject to the European Union's (“EU”) Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”) and are based in a non-EU country, such as Switzerland, are subject with respect to the marketing of their funds covered by the AIFMD (“AIFs”) into EU countries to the national private placement regimes of each EU member state, where available, and cannot benefit of the “EU passport” granted by the AIFMD. In July 2015, the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") published a first set of advice on the application of the passport to a limited number of non-EU countries, resulting in a positive advice as regards to Switzerland, Guernsey and Jersey. The purpose of such advice is to allow the EU Commission, the EU Parliament as well as the EU Counsel (“the EU Institutions”) to issue, based on the AIFMD, a delegated act extending the "EU passport" to AIFMs of such third countries and specifying the date on which the passport granted under AIFMD becomes available (subject of course to the condition that each such AIFM requests its registration within the EU as third country AIFM).

Following various exchanges between ESMA and the EU Commission, ESMA has published on July 18, 2016, a revised set of advice to the attention of the EU Institutions on the application of the passport to an extended circle of third countries, including, in addition to Switzerland, the United States, Australia, Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Japan, Singapore, as well as Guernsey and Jersey.