REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on negotiations undertaken by the Commission in the field of export credits, in the sense of Regulation (EU) No 1233/2011
Date: 2025-12-03
Institutions: Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security, European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, OECD, State aid, export aid, export credit, financial cooperation, international cooperation, negotiation of an agreement (EU), sectoral agreement

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 3.12.2025  COM(2025) 688 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on negotiations undertaken by the Commission in the field of export credits, in the sense of Regulation (EU) No 1233/2011  
 
 
1.  Introduction  

Regulation  (EU)  No  1233/2011  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  16 
November  2011  on  the  application  of  certain  guidelines  in  the  field  of  officially  supported 
export credits  and repealing Council Decisions 2001/76  EC  and 2001/77/EC1 foresees in  its 
Annex  I  that  the  European  Commission  shall  report  to  the  European  Parliament  on 
negotiations  on  officially  supported  export  credits.  The  present  report  covers  the  main 
developments in international rules on export credits that occurred during the year 2024 (from 
January 1st to December 31st).  

Since  the  late  1970s,  the  OECD  Arrangement  on  Officially  Supported  Export  Credits 
(“Arrangement”)  is  the  main  forum  for  international  rules  on  export  credits2.  In  addition  to 
general  rules  on  export  credit  transactions,  the  Arrangement  also  contains  “sector 
understandings"  covering  special  financing  rules  for  specific  industrial  sectors  and  types  of 
activity,  including  the Climate  Change  Sector  Understanding  (CCSU),  the  Ships  Sector 
Understanding (SSU), and the Aircraft Sector Understanding (ASU). 

2.  Developments in the OECD during the reporting period  

The most notable developments during the reporting period concerned: the review of Article 6 
of  the  Arrangement  to  expand  the  ban  on  coal-fired  power  plants  projects  to  all  fossil  fuel 
projects;  the  launch  of  discussions  on  specific  financing  terms  and  conditions  for  social 
infrastructure and for supporting developing countries; the review of different project classes 
in the CCSU; the launch of discussions to amend the SSU, in particular to consider zero and 
low-emission  ships,  with  the  first  meeting  of  the  Informal  Expert  Group  (IEG)  of  the 
Shipbuilding Committee on 15 March 2024; and the creation of an Experts Group tasked with 
the review of the ASU Cape Town Convention list (‘CTC Experts Group’) on 18 November 
2024. A number of other noteworthy developments are mentioned below.   

Fossil fuel support  

Following  a  proposal  presented  by  the  EU  to  Participants  in  July  2022  on  the  revision  of 
Article  6  of  the  Arrangement  with  a  view  to expanding  the  ban  on  coal-fired  power  plant 
projects  to all  fossil  fuels  (including  activities  of  mining  and  transportation  of  thermal  coal, 
activities of exploration, production, transportation, storage, refining, distribution of crude oil 
and  natural  gas  for  the  energy  sector  and  unabated  power  generation)  as  well  as  a  renewed 
proposal in November 2023 providing more information on its approach, the EU presented a 
new  proposal  on  Article  6  review  in  March  2024.  This  proposal  suggested  that  Participants 
should not provide officially supported export credits or tied aid for fossil fuel energy sector 
except in limited and clearly defined circumstances that are consistent with a 1.5C warming 
limit and the goals of the Paris Agreement.  

Following  other  proposals  and  suggestions  from  Participants,  a  new  joint  proposal  was 
presented on 24 November 2024, and Participants were invited to provide comments by mid-

1 OJ L 326, 8.12.2011, p. 45. 
2 There are 11 Participants to the  Arrangement today: Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, 

Norway, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

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December. While an agreement amongst Participants could not be reached by the end of the 
year, discussions continued into 2025.  

Down payment disciplines in the Arrangement  

As  the  flexibility  agreed  by  Participants  in  December  2023  to  temporarily  reduce  the  down 
payment  requirements  from  15%  to  5%  for  transactions  in  Category  II  countries  was  set  to 
expire  on  13  December  2024,  discussions  emerged  on  whether  to  make  the  flexibility 
permanent, including whether those flexibilities could be focused on social infrastructure. In 
this context, the EU presented a paper which called for a fact-based analysis of the needs and 
objectives  of  the  different  stakeholders  of  the  Arrangement  to  ensure  that  any  decision-
making on potential changes in down payment disciplines were in line with the OECD core 
principles  such  as  crowding  in  private  capital,  sustainable  lending  practices  and  a  fair  level 
playing field.   

Following a discussion among Participants, it was concluded that there was no appetite from 
Participants  to  make  the  down  payment  flexibilities  permanent  at  that  time,  and  that  the 
flexibility  would  expire  on  13  December  2024.  Still,  Participants  noted  that  discussions  on 
reducing the down payment and those relating to social infrastructure were tied to the broader 
issue of increasing support for the developing countries and agreed to continue discussions on 
how to best address this wider issue.   

Trade-related aid issues  

Towards  the  end  of  2024  a  proposal  from  the  OECD  Secretariat  suggested  to  include  the 
reporting requirements and the commitment to apply international competitive bidding when 
providing untied official development assistance (ODA) credits, contained in the Agreement 
on  untied  ODA  credits,  into  the  Arrangement.  Participants  invited  the  OECD  Secretariat  to 
work on a draft text for the March 2025 meeting.  

Moreover,  discussions  were  also  launched  on  revising  the  methodology  established  in  the 
Arrangement for  calculating  the  concessionality  level  of  tied  aid  transactions.  This 
methodology, developed in the 1990s, may need updating to reflect today’s realities.  

Sector Understandings  

Climate Change Sector Understanding (CCSU)  

The work on the CCSU in 2024 focused on four groups of sectors:   

•  Group  1:  The  sectors  with  placeholders  (that  have  no  definitions  or  standards)  - 
Project Class H type 4 (low emissions water transport) and Project Class J (production 
of clean liquid and gaseous fuels). As regards Project Class H, Participants agreed to 
wait  until  the  work  of  the  Informal  Expert  Group  (IEG)  of  the  Shipbuilding 
Committee was concluded before deciding on the way forward for this project class. 
As  regards  Project  class  J,  no  decision  was  taken  on  removing  the  placeholder 
contained in Annex I, and discussions continue.  

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•  Group 2: The sectors subject to a sunset clause and which were to expire by 30 June 
2024  -  Project  Class  G  (low  emissions  manufacturing)  and  Project  Class  I  (clean 
energy  minerals  and  ores).  Participants  agreed  to  maintain  the  project  classes  in  the 
Arrangement and to undertake, no later than 30 June 2026,  a review of international 
standards developed by then and decide whether they would incorporate them in  the 
entries.   

•  Group  3:  The  legacy  sectors  -  Project  Class  B  (remediation  projects  in  fossil  fuel 
plants, fossil fuel substitution) and Project Class C (energy efficiency). These sectors 
were discussed jointly with the review of Article 6 (see above).   

•  Group  4:  Other  sectors  –  Project  Class  D  (carbon  capture,  utilisation  and  storage), 
Project class E (transmission, distribution and storage of energy) and Project Class F 
(clean hydrogen and ammonia), Questions were raised regarding the interpretation of 
these  project  classes  and  discussions  started  on  potentially  changing  the  text  of 
Appendix I of the CCSU.  

Ship Sector Understanding (SSU)  

The  first  meeting  of  the  Informal  Expert  Group  (IEG)  of  the  Shipbuilding  Committee  took 
place on 15 March 2024, and the group subsequently met on 21 June 2024 and 22 November 
2024. Discussions focused on defining zero and low-emission ships and establishing specific 
financing terms and conditions for these ships.  

To  help  frame  and  guide  discussions,  experts  were  invited  to  provide  presentations  on  a 
variety of topics including on the International Maritime Organisation’s strategy and indexes 
on shipping decarbonisation and on existing taxonomies for sustainable finance for shipping. 
Delegations were also invited to present their ship financing practices with the aim to better 
understand and map different ECA practices.  

Building  on  the  discussions,  the  EU  presented  in  November  2024  a  proposal  to  incorporate 
the Arrangement Commercial Interest Reference Rate (CIRR) regime into the SSU, as there 
seemed  to  be  no  clear  reason  why  CIRR  regimes  for  standard  Arrangement  transactions  or 
ship transactions under the SSU needed to differ.   

Discussions on shipping decarbonisation and SSU CIRR reform continued into 2025.   

Aircraft Sector Understanding (ASU)   

At their 73rd Meeting on 18 November 2022, Participants started reflecting on how to review 
the list of states which qualified for the reduction of the minimum premium rates ('Cape Town 
Convention List’ or ‘CTC List’) seeing as the CTC List had only been updated to include one 
new  state  and  no  state  had  ever  been  removed  or  even  reviewed  after  being  added.  These 
discussions led to the creation of a CTC Experts Group at the 75th Meeting of Participants to 
the ASU on 18 November 2024 to assist Participants in reviewing the CTC List. Discussions 
are still ongoing on how to best approach this revision.  

On 18 November 2024, the EU presented a proposal to ASU Participants to adapt the terms 
and conditions within the ASU for helicopters, especially regarding the practices in providing 

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support before the starting point of credit. Discussions also covered the potential for changes 
to  the  ASU  for  Maintenance  Repair  and  Overhaul  (MRO)  contracts,  as  well  as  sustainable 
aviation and export credit incentives for aviation decarbonisation.    

Other developments  

CIRR reform 

Following the discontinuation of LIBOR in 2021, Participants had agreed during their 159th 
Meeting in November 2023 to extend the temporary 100 basis points margin of the CIRR rate, 
which was set to expire on 14 July 2024, by one year (i.e., until 14 July 2025) in order to have 
time to reflect on a more permanent solution that would provide predictability for exporters, 
buyers and stakeholders. In 2024, no alternative proposals were tabled by Participants, and the 
issue was kept on the agenda for the March 2025 meeting.  

Common Lines 

In 2024, only one common line was proposed by Participants. The common line, proposed on 
19 December 2024 and subsequently accepted by Participants, aimed at  increasing the local 
cost  support  to  cover  resettlement  costs  for  the  Yaoundé  Nsimalen  urban  highway  in 
Cameroon.  The  common  line  entered  into  force  on  31  January  2025  and  will  expire  on  30 
January 2027. 

The Commission will keep the European Parliament duly informed of new developments.  

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