Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) executive director Florence Lombard said the proposed regulation has been drawn up without proper consultation with the industry or coordination with international bodies such as the International Organization of Securities Commissions, which has been tasked with reviewing fund management rules by the G20.
As a result, the proposed directive could contain measures that are "inappropriate" for what is a complex and diverse sector, Ms Lombard said.
Furthermore, the AIMA is concerned that the draft document may have been influenced from pressure brought by political groups looking to score points ahead of June's European elections.
"The volume of political rhetoric has been particularly baffling given that all the major reports into the current crisis, including the de Larosiere report and the Turner Review, concluded that hedge funds played an absolutely peripheral role," Ms Lombard commented.
The draft directive has also been criticized by the Party of European Socialists for only covering fund managers and not funds themselves.