State aid: Commission launches public consultation on availability of private short-term export-credit insurance capacity for exports in light of economic impact of coronavirus outbreak

The Commission has launched a public consultation to assess the availability of private short-term export-credit insurance capacity for exports to all countries listed as “marketable risk countries” in the 2012 Short-term export-credit Communication. Based on the results of the public consultation, the Commission will assess whether the current temporary removal of all countries from the list of “marketable risk” countries remains justified.  Export-credits enable foreign buyers of goods and/or services to defer payment. Deferred payment implies credit risk for the seller/exporter, against which they insure themselves, typically with the private insurers (so-called export credit insurance). According to the 2012 Short-term export-credit Communication, which is in force since 2013, trade within 27 EU Member States and nine OECD countries listed in its Annex with a maximum risk period of up to two years entails marketable risks and should, in principle, not be insured by the State or State supported insurers. With a view to make public short-term export credit insurance more widely available in light of the crisis linked to the coronavirus outbreak, on 27 March 2020, the Commission decided to temporarily remove all countries from the list of “marketable risk” countries until 31 December 2020. On 13 October 2020, the Commission prolonged this removal until 30 June 2021. These decisions followed two public consultations that had pointed to a lack of sufficient private capacity to cover all economically justifiable risks for exports to countries from the list of marketable risk countries and to an expected rise in demand for insurance as a result of the outbreak.  Depending on the results of the consultation and taking into account the relevant economic indicators, the Commission may decide to prolong the removal of all countries from the list of “marketable risk” countries as a temporary measure, beyond June 2021.