On December 16, 2024, the AMF decided to comply with the guidance of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on the names of funds containing terms related to environmental, social and governance criteria or sustainability. Consequently, AMF position-recommendation 2020-03 has been modified.
Published in March 2020, AMF recommendation position 2020-03, whose objective is the prevention of greenwashing, sets minimum standards allowing collective investments distributed in France to non-professional clients to communicate on taking into account extra-financial criteria in their name, key information document and commercial documents.
These modifications aim to translate the application of ESMA guidelines into AMF doctrine. The existing criteria on the name of the funds have been replaced by those of the ESMA guidelines and extended to all collective investments, in particular funds reserved for professional clients, concerned by the latter. These guidelines have applied since November 21, 2024 for funds created after this date and from May 21, 2025 for existing funds.
These modifications also aim to clarify the interaction between these expectations on the name of funds with those already existing, particularly on the commercial documents of French or foreign funds marketed in France to the general public. To be able to communicate centrally on the consideration of extra-financial criteria in their commercial documents, these funds will have to continue to respect the existing criteria of position-recommendation 2020-03. If a fund marketed to the general public wishes to integrate terms linked to environmental, social and governance criteria or sustainability in its name and communicate centrally on this theme in its commercial documentation, it must cumulatively respect the guidelines of the ESMA and the criteria of position-recommendation 2020-03.
Several measures allowing the two bodies of rules to be articulated were included in position-recommendation 2020-03. These are for example:
- to allow actors wishing to communicate centrally to take into account the “fossil” exclusions resulting from the ESMA guidelines in achieving the rate of 20% reduction in the investment universe for funds using terms linked to sustainability in their name; Or
- to adapt the warning to be affixed in the commercial documents of foreign funds marketed in France complying with ESMA guidelines but not respecting the communication expectations proportionate within the meaning of 2020-03 for more education among investors.
These modifications to position-recommendation 2020-03 come into effect immediately.
