As every newcomer to the world of laws and regulations learns, the very first challenge is to learn a new language: the 'alphabet soup' of regulation. Policy makes love nothing more than to adopt new rules with usually long names that are then shortened into an acronym that Brussels or London insiders use as a way to distinguish who’s 'in' and who’s 'out' of the concentric circles of stakeholders.

Since INREV launched its public affairs programme in early 2012, we’ve steeped ourselves in important and less important issues impacting the structure and operation of the real estate funds industry such as AIFMD, EMIR, FAT, FATCA, CRD, NPPR, SCR, CBDF, PRIPS, ISSB, GDPR, LTIF, LTAF and PIF which have been developed and supplemented by the EC, EP ECON, ESAs, ESMA, EBA, EIOPA, FCA and NSAs such as BaFin, AMF, AFM and DNB.

Tax authorities also play the game and, over the past years, the OECD, HMT and HMRC, just to name a few, have added many new entries to our vocabulary such as BEPS, DAC 6, ATAD (I, II and III, no less) and DEBRA. More recently, the emphasis and urgency of solving sustainability-related challenges—yes, under another headline acronym, ESG—have resulted in our industry quickly learning about SFDR, TCFD, SDR, CSDR and EPBD and there’s no sign the introduction of new acronyms in the area will slow down anytime soon. 

Luckily, one of INREV’s first initiatives in the public affairs area involved pulling together a group of real estate industry associations, EREF, to help wade through the alphabet soup of new regulations and tax initiates that are introduced nearly every week. Besides INREV, EPRA, CREFC, AREF, BPF, ALFI, IVBN, RICS, IEIF, RAKLI, ULI, GRESB, ZIA, BVI, BFW, UPSI-BVS, AEDES, IIP, DPF, AFG, ASPIM, FEBELFIN, FEI, BVAI, ECSP and other associations come together several times each year to gather information and develop strategies for sorting out the tangled stewpot of regulatory alphabet soup.