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Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine

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Alternative investment funds: regulation in European Union law and prospects for implementation in Ukraine

Yurii A. Pukavskyi

Received 12.05.2026, Revised 18.06.2026, Accepted 30.09.2026

Abstract

The legal regulation of collective investment undertakings is one of the key areas of adaptation of Ukrainian financial legislation to the law of the European Union. Despite Ukraine’s European integration course, national legislation has not yet introduced the category of alternative investment funds as an independent legal construct, which creates a systemic gap between the domestic collective investment undertakings model and the regulatory architecture of EU law. The aim of this article is to carry out a comparative legal analysis of the legal nature of alternative investment funds under EU law and collective investment undertakings under Ukrainian legislation, to determine their functional relationship, and to substantiate approaches to implementing the alternative investment funds concept into the national legal framework. The methodological basis of the research comprises a system of general scientific and specifically legal methods, including comparative legal, systemic-structural, formal-legal, and teleological methods. The source base comprised Directive 2011/61/EU on Alternative Investment Fund Managers, Directive 2009/65/EU, the Law of Ukraine On Collective Investment Undertakings, relevant subordinate legislation, and doctrinal works of scholars from Ukraine and EU Member States. The study established that AIFMD constructs the AIF through a functional residual definition and concentrates the regulatory emphasis on the fund manager, whereas the Ukrainian collective investment undertakings model is built around normatively prescribed parameters of the fund itself – its type, category, and asset composition. It was found that none of the existing types of Ukrainian collective investment undertakings constitutes a full normative equivalent of an alternative investment funds; however, venture, non-diversified, and qualified collective investment undertakings demonstrate a sufficient degree of functional proximity to particular alternative investment funds segments. The expediency of a functionally sectoral implementation model is substantiated, which provides for the gradual introduction of the alternative investment funds and alternative investment fund managers categories. The practical value of the study lies in establishing the theoretical and legal foundations for harmonizing Ukrainian collective investment legislation with EU law and identifying specific reform directions.

Keywords:

legislation harmonisation; collective investment undertakings; investment funds; alternative investment funds; European Union law; European integration

https://doi.org/10.31359/1993-0909.2026.33.3.386

Retrieved from Journal NALSU №3, 2026 year

Pages 386-410

References Suggested citation

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Suggested citation

Pukavskyi, Yu.A. (2026). Alternative investment funds: regulation in European Union law and prospects for implementation in Ukraine. Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, 33(3), 386-410. https://doi.org/10.31359/1993-0909.2026.33.3.386