CELEX: 51987PC0251
Language: en
Date: 1987-06-26
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A EUROPEAN EXPORT CREDIT INSURANCE FACILITY TO PROVIDE EXPORT CREDIT INSURANCE FOR EXPORT CONTRACTS TO THIRD COUNTRIES SOURCED IN MORE THAN ONE MEMBER STATE

No C 230/4                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                  28.8.87
                                                                 II
                                                         (Preparatory Acts)
                                                   COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Regulation concerning the establishment of a European Export Credit
              Insurance Facility to provide export credit insurance for export contracts to third countries
                                             sourced in more than one Member State
                                                        COM(87) 251 final
                                  (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 29 June 1987)
                                                           (87/C 230/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                                          Article 1
Economic. Community, and in particular Article 113
thereof,                                                             Export credit insurance for exports from the Community
                                                                     shall be provided by the Member States in the manner
                                                                     set out in this Regulation.
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                                               Article 2
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament,                                                              1.    In cases where
Whereas export credit insurance influences international             — not less than 85 % of the value of the contract for
trade flows and as such constitutes a powerful instrument                 exports of goods or services to markets outside the
of commercial policy;                                                     Community (hereinafter called the 'export contract')
                                                                          is supplied by undertakings from more than one
                                                                          Member State and
Whereas the increasing interdependence of the Member
States' economies results in a trend towards the growth              — the export contract is of a minimum value to be
of export operations undertaken by a number of under-                     determined in accordance with the procedure laid
takings in different Member States; such cooperation is a                 down in Article 7,
major, or even decisive, factor in the competitiveness of
Community exports to third country markets;
                                                                      export credit insurance shall be provided together by the
                                                                      export credit insurance organization acting on behalf of
Whereas differences between the export guarantee                      the State, or with its support, or the public departments
systems at present in force in the Member States not                  acting in place of such an organization (hereinafter
only distort competition between undertakings of                      called the 'export credit agency') of each Member State
 different Member States in export markets but also give              acting as co-insurer proportionately to the value of the
 rise to substantial difficulties in the carrying out of such         export contract supplied by the undertaking or under-
 export operations on a cooperative basis;                            takings established in that Member State.
 Whereas therefore it is necessary to establish a common              2.    The percentage of 85 % referred to in the first
 export credit insurance system for exports originating in            indent of paragraph 1 may be reduced in proportion to
 more than one Member State and to provide for the                    any insurance of the non-Community element in the
 issue of the common export credit insurance policy by a              export contract by an export credit agency outside the
 European Export Credit Insurance Facility;                           Community approved by the European Export Credit
                                                                      Insurance Facility.
 Whereas it is necessary to provide for the establishment
 of the terms of the common insurance policy, the                     3.    Provision of export credit insurance in accordance
 method of operation of the Facility and rules on the                 with this Regulation shall not prejudice access to existing
 financing of the Facility and other matters by the                   mechanisms for supporting interest rates operated by
 Commission acting in close cooperation with the                      export credit agencies in the Member States from which
 Member States,                                                       the exports originate.
 ---pagebreak--- 28.8.87                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 230/5
                           Article 3                                                           Article 6
The export credit insurance cover shall be offered in a             All requests for insurance cover to be arranged by the
single common policy, to be known as the European                   EECIF shall be immediately forwarded to the EECIF.
Export Credit Insurance Facility policy, (hereinafter
called the 'EECIF policy'), the terms and conditions of                                        Article 7
which shall be established in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 7.                                   1.    A Committee (hereinafter called the 'EECIF
                                                                    Committee') is hereby set up. It shall consist of rep-
                                                                    resentatives of the Member States with a representative
                           Article 4                                of the Commission as chairman. The Committee shall
1.    The EECIF policy shall be issued on behalf, and in            adopt its own rules of procedure.
the name, of the export credit agencies of the Member
States concerned by a common agent to be appointed by               2.    Where the procedure laid down in this Article is to
each of them for this purpose.                                      be followed, the representative of the Commission, who
                                                                    shall act as chairman, shall submit to the Committee a
                                                                    draft of the measures to be adopted. The Committee
2.    The detailed rules for the issue of the EECIF policy          shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit
shall be established pursuant to the procedure laid down            which the chairman may lay down having regard to the
in Article 7.                                                       urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by
                                                                    the majority laid down in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty in
                           Article 5                                the case of decisions which the Council is required to
                                                                    adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of
1.    The common agent referred to in Article 4, to be              the representatives of the Member States within the
known as the European Export Credit Insurance Facility              Committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in
(hereafter called the 'EECIF'), shall be established by 1           that Article.
January 1988 as an entity with legal personality.
                                                                    The chairman shall not vote.
2.    The amount of the working capital of the EECIF,               The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged if
intended to cover its initial administrative costs, shall be        they are in accordance with the opinion of the
laid down in accordance with the procedure laid down in             Committee.
Article 7. It shall be provided by the export credit
agencies of the Member States in proportion to a                    If the measures envisaged are not in accordance with the
formula to be established in accordance with the same               opinion of the Committee, or if no opinion is delivered,
procedure.                                                          the Commission shall without delay submit to the
                                                                    Council a proposal with regard to the measures to be
                                                                    adopted. The Council shall act by a qualified majority.
3.    The administrative costs of the EECIF shall be
covered by a commission to be paid by the export credit             If, within three months of the proposal being submitted
agencies of each of the Member States concerned in                  to it, the Council has not acted, the proposed measures
respect of the policies issued on their behalf.,                    shall be adopted by the Commission.
4.    The EECIF shall have a Board of Directors                                                Article 8
consisting of one member appointed by each Member
State's export credit agency and one member appointed               This Regulation shall not prejudice the automatic
by the Commission acting on behalf of the Community.                inclusion of certain subcontracts in export credit
                                                                    insurance cover by the export credit agencies of the
5.    The Board shall be empowered to:                              Member       States pursuant        to Council    Decision
                                                                    82/854/EEC (*).
— decide whether the conditions contained in the
    detailed rules for the issue of the EECIF policy are                                       Article 9
    fulfilled in the case of each request received and that         This Regulation shall enter into force on the 30th day
    the policy will therefore be issued;                            following its publication in the Official Journal of the
                                                                    European Communities.
— appoint an Executive Director to whom will be
    delegated powers to engage the necessary staff to               This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
    operate the EECIF.                                              directly applicable in all Member States.
6.    Decisions of the Board of Directors shall be taken
by a majority of its members.                                       O OJ No L 357, 18. 12. 1982, p. 20.