I can buy a new car that starts losing money the second I drive it off the lot. I can buy individual stocks I barely understand. What I cannot do, as an ordinary EU retail investor, is tap “buy” on VOO, VTI, SPY or QQQ.

That is not a glitch. It is PRIIPs.

The rule is Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014. It took effect on 1 January 2018. It does not ban American ETFs. It makes it illegal for an EU-regulated broker to sell a packaged product to a retail client unless the issuer has produced a Key Information Document – a KID. Three pages, fixed template, risk score, costs, performance scenarios. (Readable summary here.)

US issuers follow SEC rules. They have no commercial reason to write, translate and maintain EU paperwork for a market that is not their main one. No KID, no sale. Avanza, Nordnet and the rest are not being lazy. They are following the law.

You can usually keep what you already own and sell it. You just cannot add to the position.

The official story is protection. Fine. Comparable fact sheets are not a stupid idea. My less official take is that the paperwork also happens to keep a lot of cheap US-listed products out of reach and steers people toward European UCITS versions instead. Coincidence? Maybe. Convenient? Also maybe.

This is the same “for your own good” logic I wrote about in April, when new EU rules gave fund companies the right to lock withdrawals in stressed markets. Different rule. Same habit: treat the saver as a child who cannot be trusted with their own money. (That post is here.)

The part that still makes me laugh is the inconsistency. If we are too fragile for an S&P 500 ETF without a three-page brochure, we should probably also be too fragile for a new car. Those things bleed value fast – often around 10 percent as soon as they become “used,” and a painful chunk more in year one. Nobody demands a KID before you sign at the dealer.

I got around it the boring, legal way. On one of our platforms I am classified as a professional client, so the KID rule does not apply there. That is where every ETF purchase goes.

The exposure was never the problem. The paperwork was. Most people do not have that classification, and they should not have to collect a badge from the regulator just to buy an S&P 500 fund.

If you are stuck as a retail client, the European UCITS versions still do the job. If you have another clean workaround that does not involve lying on a form, put it in the comments.