Should I be ordering stocks of vellum in the 21st Century?

I have such and exciting life that yesterday I was reading the Level 2 rules of the Alternative Investment Fund Management Directive (AIFMD) as published by the European Parliament just before Christmas.

I won't be going into any of the detail, but one phrase strucj me as being out of place and potentially out of time. The phrase appears in a number of place, one which is Article 26 related the provision of information and goes

 "....shall promptly provide the investor, by means of a durable medium, with the essential information......"

 

The emphasis on "durable medium" is mine and is the piece that is out of place, at least to my mind and made me wonder why it was specifically added.

 

With so much information exchanged electronically I wonder if a digital file held on magnetic (inherently re-writable!) classifies as durable? The requirement does seem to be a throwback to the good old days of paper.....or vellum.

 

I mention vellum as it is the medium used to record the Acts of Parliament in the UK. This has been the case for hundreds of years. Vellum which is prepared calf-hide is the preferred medium due to its durability. Of course a lot depends on the quality of the material and its preparation, but I recall talk of it last a 1,000 years! I doubt we could say that about optical dics etc.

 

Anyway, while the jibe about vellum was a little tongue-in-cheek, the precise phraseology does interest me. It has been suggested that it may be down to poor translation (from French?)

 

I will be looking for a pratcical interpretation in due course, but right now I will just smile at the idea of financial services companies requiring the services of scribes and the use of vellum. Very space age!!!