ABSTRACT
The professional services prohibitions introduced by Article 5m of Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 have rendered the common law trust inoperable for large categories of clients, exposing a structural vulnerability inherent in its dependence on regulated third parties. This article examines the civil law foundation as a structural alternative, with primary focus on the Mauritius Foundations Act 2012. It analyses the foundation’s separate legal personality, its governance architecture, its asset protection characteristics, and the treatment of reserved powers, and compares the Mauritius framework with those available in the UAE through the Abu Dhabi Global Market and Dubai International Financial Centre. It identifies the conditions under which the foundation and the trust respond differently to targeted regulatory measures, and the considerations relevant to the choice between the two instruments.
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Olga Boltenko-Kroon, The civil law foundation as a structural alternative to the common law trust in conditions of geopolitical risk, Trusts & Trustees. Published: 17 July 2026.
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