General rules of conduct; Authorisation to issue statutory instruments

(1) In performing its tasks, the capital management company acts independently of the depositary and exclusively in the interest of investors.
(2) The capital management company is obliged to 1. carry out its activity honestly, with the required skill, care and diligence, and fairly, 2. act in the best interests of the investment funds it manages, or the investors in those investment funds, and of the integrity of the market, 3. take all reasonable measures to avoid conflicts of interest and, where they cannot be avoided, to identify, resolve, monitor, and, where appropriate, disclose these conflicts of interest, in order to a) prevent them from adversely affecting the interests of the investment funds and the investors, and b) ensure that the investment funds it manages are treated fairly, 4. have, and effectively employ, the resources and procedures necessary for the proper conduct of its business, 5. comply with all regulatory requirements applicable to the conduct of its business activities, in order to promote the best interests of the investment funds it manages, or the investors in those investment funds, and the integrity of the market, and 6. treat all investors in the investment funds fairly.
(3) The AIF capital management company may not grant any investor in an AIF preferential treatment, unless such preferential treatment is provided for in the investment conditions, the articles of association, or the partnership agreement of the AIF concerned.
(4) A capital management company whose authorisation also covers the service named in section 20(2), point 1 (financial portfolio management), or the service named in section 20(3), point 1 (individual portfolio management), or point 2 (financial portfolio management), may not invest the client's assets, in whole or in part, in units of the investment funds it manages, unless the client has previously given a general consent to this.
(5) The capital management company must, in particular, have suitable procedures to avoid, having regard to the value of the investment fund and the investor structure, any impairment of investors' interests through unreasonable costs, fees, and practices, in respect of investment funds.
(6) The capital management company must apply appropriate principles and procedures to prevent any impairment of market stability and market integrity. Abusive market practices must be prevented, in particular short-term, systematic speculation with investment units by exploiting price differences on exchanges and other organised markets, and related opportunities to earn arbitrage profits.
(7) For AIF capital management companies, the criteria according to which the Federal Institute assesses whether AIF capital management companies comply with their obligations named in subsections (1) and (2) are governed by Articles 16 to 29 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 231/2013. For more detailed requirements as to UCITS capital management companies' compliance with their obligation, within the meaning of subsection (1), to act independently of the depositary in performing their tasks, reference is made to Article 21, letters a to c, Article 22(1) to (4), and Article 23 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/438. For AIF capital management companies that do not manage exclusively special AIFs, Article 21, letters a to c, Article 22(1) to (4), and Article 23 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/438 apply correspondingly.
(8) The Federal Ministry of Finance is authorised to issue, by statutory instrument not requiring the consent of the Bundesrat, for capital management companies, in respect of retail AIFs, additional provisions supplementing the criteria named in subsection (7) set out in Articles 16 to 29 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 231/2013, and, in respect of UCITS, more detailed provisions on 1. rules of conduct corresponding to the requirements under subsections (1) and (2), points 1 and 2, and 2. the resources and procedures necessary for the proper conduct of business of such capital management companies. The Federal Ministry of Finance may transfer this authorisation, by statutory instrument, to the Federal Institute.