1.Where it proves to be the most appropriate way to achieve policy objectives of the Union, the Union may establish financial instruments or provide budgetary guarantees or financial assistance backed by the budget by means of a basic act defining their scope and period of implementation.
2.Member States may contribute to the Union’s financial instruments, budgetary guarantees or financial assistance. If authorised by the basic act, third parties may also contribute.
3.Where financial instruments are implemented under shared management with Member States, sector-specific rules shall apply.
4.Where financial instruments or budgetary guarantees are implemented under indirect management, the Commission shall conclude agreements with entities pursuant to points (c)(ii), (iii), (v) and (vi) of the first subparagraph of Article 62(1). Where the systems, rules and procedures of those entities have been assessed pursuant to Article 154(4), they may fully rely on those systems, rules and procedures. Those entities may, when implementing financial instruments and budgetary guarantees under indirect management, conclude agreements with financial intermediaries which shall be selected in accordance with procedures equivalent to those applied by the Commission. Those entities shall transpose the requirements pursuant to Article 155(2) in those agreements.
The Commission shall remain responsible for ensuring that the implementation framework for financial instruments complies with the principle of sound financial management and supports the attainment of defined and time-bound policy objectives, measurable in terms of outputs and/or results. The Commission shall be accountable for the implementation of financial instruments without prejudice to the entrusted entities’ legal and contractual responsibility in accordance with the applicable law and Article 129.
Where third countries contribute to financial instruments or budgetary guarantees pursuant to paragraph 2, the basic act may allow for the designation of eligible implementing entities or counterparts from the countries concerned.
5.The Court of Auditors shall have full access to any information related to the financial instruments, budgetary guarantees and financial assistance, including by means of on-the-spot checks.
The Court of Auditors shall be the external auditor responsible for the projects and programmes supported by a financial instrument, a budgetary guarantee or a financial assistance.
1.Financial instruments and budgetary guarantees shall be used in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, transparency, proportionality, non-discrimination, equal treatment and subsidiarity, and in accordance with their objectives.
2.Financial instruments and budgetary guarantees shall:
(a)address market failures or sub-optimal investment situations and provide support, in a proportionate manner, only to final recipients that are deemed economically viable according to internationally accepted standards at the time of the Union financial support;
(b)achieve additionality by preventing the replacement of potential support and investment from other public or private sources;
(c)not distort competition in the internal market and be consistent with State aid rules;
(d)achieve a leverage and a multiplier effect, with a target range of values based on an ex ante evaluation for the corresponding financial instrument or budgetary guarantee, by mobilising a global investment exceeding the size of the Union contribution or guarantee, including, where appropriate, the maximisation of private investment;
(e)be implemented in a way to ensure that there is a common interest of the implementing entities or counterparts involved in the implementation in achieving the policy objectives defined in the relevant basic act, with provisions on for example co-investment, risk sharing requirements or financial incentives, while preventing a conflict of interests with other activities of the entities or counterparts;
(f)provide for remuneration of the Union that is consistent with the sharing of risk among financial participants and the policy objectives of the financial instrument or budgetary guarantee;
(g)where remuneration of the implementing entities or the counterparts involved in the implementation is due, provide that such remuneration is performance-based and comprises:
administrative fees to remunerate the entity or counterpart for the work carried out in the implementation of a financial instrument or budgetary guarantee, which shall, to the extent possible, be based on the operations carried out or the amounts disbursed; and
where appropriate, policy related incentives to promote the achievement of the policy objectives or incentivise the financial performance of the financial instrument or budgetary guarantee.
Exceptional expenses may be reimbursed in duly justified cases;
(h)be based on ex ante evaluations, individually or as part of a programme, in line with Article 34, containing explanations concerning the choice of the type of financial operation taking into account the policy objectives pursued and the associated financial risks and savings for the budget.
The evaluations referred to in point (h) of the first subparagraph shall be reviewed and updated to take into account the effect of major socioeconomic changes on the rationale of the financial instrument or budgetary guarantee.
3.Without prejudice to sector-specific rules for shared management, revenue, including dividends, capital gains, guarantee fees and interest on loans and on amounts on fiduciary accounts paid back to the Commission or on fiduciary accounts opened for financial instruments or budgetary guarantees and attributable to the support from the budget under a financial instrument or a budgetary guarantee, shall be entered in the budget after deduction of management costs and fees.
Annual repayments, including capital repayments, guarantees released, and repayments of the principal of loans, paid back to the Commission or to fiduciary accounts opened for financial instruments or budgetary guarantees and attributable to the support from the budget under a financial instrument or a budgetary guarantee, shall constitute internal assigned revenue in accordance with point (f) of Article 21(3) and shall be used for the same financial instrument or budgetary guarantee, without prejudice to Article 215(5), for a period not exceeding the period for the budgetary commitment plus two years, unless otherwise specified in a basic act.
The Commission shall take into account such internal assigned revenue when proposing the amount for future allocations for financial instruments or budgetary guarantees.
Notwithstanding the second subparagraph, the outstanding amount of assigned revenue authorised under a basic act that is to be repealed or terminates may also be assigned to another financial instrument pursuing similar objectives, where this is provided in the basic act establishing that financial instrument.
4.The authorising officer responsible for a financial instrument, a budgetary guarantee or a financial assistance shall produce a financial statement covering the period 1 January to 31 December, in accordance with Article 243 and in compliance with the accounting rules referred to in Article 80 and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).
For financial instruments and budgetary guarantees implemented under indirect management, the authorising officer responsible shall ensure that unaudited financial statements covering the period 1 January to 31 December prepared in compliance with the accounting rules referred to in Article 80 and with IPSAS, as well as any information necessary to produce financial statements in accordance with Article 82(2), be provided by the entities pursuant to points (c)(ii), (iii), (v) and (vi) of the first subparagraph of Article 62(1) by 15 February of the following financial year and that audited financial statements be provided by those entities by 15 May of the following financial year.
1.The financial liability and aggregate net payments from the budget shall not exceed at any time:
(a)for financial instruments: the amount of the relevant budgetary commitment made for it;
(b)for budgetary guarantees: the amount of the budgetary guarantee authorised by the basic act;
(c)for financial assistance: the maximum amount of funds that the Commission is empowered to borrow for funding the financial assistance as authorised by the basic act, and the relevant interest.
2.Budgetary guarantees and financial assistance may generate a contingent liability for the Union which shall only exceed the financial assets provided to cover the financial liability of the Union if provided for in a basic act establishing a budgetary guarantee or financial assistance and under the conditions set out therein.
3.For the purposes of the annual assessment provided for in point (j) of Article 41(5), the contingent liabilities arising from budgetary guarantees or financial assistance borne by the budget shall be deemed sustainable, if their forecast multiannual evolution is compatible with the limits set by the regulation laying down the multiannual financial framework provided for in Article 312(2) TFEU and the ceiling on annual payment appropriations set out in Article 3(1) of Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom.
1.For budgetary guarantees and financial assistance to third countries, a basic act shall set out a provisioning rate as a percentage of the amount of the financial liability authorised. That amount shall exclude the contributions referred to in Article 208(2).
The basic act shall provide for the review of the provisioning rate at least every three years.
2.The setting of a provisioning rate shall be guided by a qualitative and quantitative assessment by the Commission of the financial risks arising from a budgetary guarantee or a financial assistance to a third country in accordance with the principle of prudence, whereby assets and profits shall not be overestimated and liabilities and losses shall not be underestimated.
Unless otherwise specified in the basic act establishing the budgetary guarantee or financial assistance to a third country, the provisioning rate shall be based on the global provisioning needed in advance to cover the net expected losses and, in addition, an adequate safety buffer. Without prejudice to the powers of the European Parliament and of the Council, the global provisioning shall be constituted over the period of time foreseen in the relevant financial statement as referred to in Article 35.
3.For a financial instrument provision shall be made, where appropriate, to respond to future payments related to a budgetary commitment of that financial instrument.
4.The following resources shall contribute to the provisioning:
(a)contributions from the budget, while fully respecting the regulation laying down the multiannual financial framework and after examination of the possibilities for redeployments;
(b)returns on investments of the resources held in the common provisioning fund;
(c)amounts recovered from defaulting debtors in accordance with the recovery procedure laid down in the guarantee or the loan agreement;
(d)revenue and any other payments received by the Union in accordance with the guarantee or the loan agreement;
(e)where applicable, contributions in cash by Member States and third parties pursuant to Article 208(2).
Only the resources referred to in points (a) to (d) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be taken into account for calculating the provisioning resulting from the provisioning rate referred to in paragraph 1.
5.Provisions shall be used for the payment of:
(a)calls on the budgetary guarantee;
(b)payment obligations related to a budgetary commitment for a financial instrument;
(c)financial obligations arising from the borrowing of funds pursuant to Article 220(1);
(d)where applicable, other expenses associated to the implementation of financial instruments, budgetary guarantees and financial assistance to third countries.
6.Where the provisions for a budgetary guarantee exceed the amount of provisioning resulting from the provisioning rate referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, resources referred to in points (b), (c) and (d) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 of this Article related to that guarantee shall be used within the limits of the eligible period provided for in the basic act, however, not beyond the constitution phase of the provisioning, and without prejudice to Article 213(4), to restore the budgetary guarantee up to its initial amount.
7.The Commission shall immediately inform the European Parliament and the Council and may propose adequate replenishment measures or an increase of the provisioning rate where:
(a)as a result of calls on a budgetary guarantee, the level of provisions for that budgetary guarantee falls below 50 % of the provisioning rate referred to in paragraph 1, and again where it falls below 30 % of that provisioning rate, or where it could fall below any of those percentages within a year according to a risk assessment by the Commission;
(b)a country benefitting from financial assistance by the Union fails to pay on a maturity.
1.The provisions made to cover the financial liabilities arising from financial instruments, budgetary guarantees or financial assistance shall be held in a common provisioning fund.
By 30 June 2019, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council an independent external evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of entrusting the financial management of the assets of the common provisioning fund to the Commission, to the EIB, or to a combination of the two, taking into account the relevant technical and institutional criteria used in comparing asset management services, including the technical infrastructure, a comparison of costs for the services provided, the institutional set-up, reporting, performance, accountability and expertise of the Commission and the EIB and the other asset management mandates for the budget. The evaluation shall, where appropriate, be accompanied by a legislative proposal.
2.Global profits or losses from the investment of the resources held in the common provisioning fund shall be allocated proportionately among the respective financial instruments, budgetary guarantees or financial assistance.
The financial manager of the resources of the common provisioning fund shall keep a minimum amount of resources of the fund in cash or cash equivalents in accordance with prudential rules and the forecasts for payments provided by the authorising officers of the financial instruments, budgetary guarantees or financial assistance.
The financial manager of the resources of the common provisioning fund may enter into repurchase agreements, with the resources of the common provisioning fund as collateral, to make payments out of the fund where this procedure is reasonably expected to be more beneficial for the budget than the divestment of resources within the timeframe of the payment request. The duration or roll-over period of repurchase agreements related to a payment shall be limited to the minimum necessary to minimise a loss for the budget.
3.Pursuant to point (d) of the first subparagraph of Article 77(1) and Article 86(1) and (2), the accounting officer shall set up the procedures to be applied to the revenue and expenditure operations and, in agreement with the financial manager of the resources of the common provisioning fund, to the assets and liabilities related to the common provisioning fund.
4.In the exceptional cases where the Commission has made a transfer as referred to in point (g) of the first subparagraph of Article 30(1), the Commission shall immediately inform the European Parliament and the Council thereof, and shall urgently propose the measures necessary to restore the budgetary item of the guarantee from which the transfer was made, while fully respecting the ceilings provided for in the regulation laying down the multiannual financial framework.
1.The provisioning of budgetary guarantees and financial assistance to third countries in the common provisioning fund shall be based on an effective provisioning rate. That rate shall provide a level of protection against the financial liabilities of the Union equivalent to the level that would be provided by the respective provisioning rates if the resources where held and managed separately.
2.The effective provisioning rate applicable shall be a percentage of each initial provisioning rate determined in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 211(2). It shall apply only to the amount of resources in the common provisioning fund foreseen for the payment of guarantee calls over a one year period. It shall provide for a ratio, in the form of a percentage, between the amount of cash and cash equivalents in the common provisioning fund required to honour guarantee calls and the total amount of cash and cash equivalents that would be required in each guarantee fund to honour guarantee calls, if the resources were held and managed separately, where both amounts represent an equivalent liquidity risk. That ratio shall not fall below 95 %. The calculation of the effective provisioning rate shall take into account:
(a)the forecast of inflows and outflows in the common provisioning fund, having regard to the initial phase of constitution of global provisioning in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 211(2);
(b)the risk correlation among the budgetary guarantees and the financial assistance to third countries;
(c)the market conditions.
The Commission shall by 1 July 2020 adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 269 to supplement this Regulation with detailed conditions for the calculation of the effective provisioning rate, including a methodology for that calculation.
The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 269 to amend the minimum ratio referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph in the light of the experience gained with the operation of the common provisioning fund while maintaining a prudent approach in line with the principle of sound financial management. The minimum ratio shall not be set at a level lower than 85 %.
3.The effective provisioning rate shall be calculated annually by the financial manager of the resources of the common provisioning fund and shall be the reference for the Commission’s calculation of the contributions from the budget pursuant to point (a) of Article 211(4) and, subsequently, point (b) of paragraph 4 of this Article.
4.Following the calculation of the annual effective provisioning rate in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, the following operations in the context of the budgetary procedure shall be made and presented in the working document referred to in point (h) of Article 41(5):
(a)any surplus of provisions for a budgetary guarantee or a financial assistance to a third country shall be returned to the budget;
(b)any replenishment of the fund shall be carried out in annual tranches during a maximum period of three years, without prejudice to Article 211(6).
5.After having consulted the accounting officer, the Commission shall establish the guidelines applicable to the management of the resources in the common provisioning fund in accordance with appropriate prudential rules and excluding derivative operations for speculative purposes. Those guidelines shall be attached to the agreement with the financial manager of the resources of the common provisioning fund.
An independent evaluation of the adequacy of the guidelines shall be carried out every three years and transmitted to the European Parliament and to the Council.
1.In addition to the reporting obligation laid down in Article 250, the Commission shall report annually to the European Parliament and to the Council on the common provisioning fund.
2.The financial manager of the resources of the common provisioning fund shall report annually to the European Parliament and to the Council on the common provisioning fund.
1.Notwithstanding Article 208(1), financial instruments may be established, in duly justified cases, without being authorised by means of a basic act, provided that such instruments are included in the draft budget in accordance with point (e) of the first subparagraph of Article 41(4).
2.Where financial instruments or budgetary guarantees are combined within a single agreement with ancillary support from the budget, including grants, this Title shall apply to the whole measure. The reporting shall be carried out in accordance with Article 250 and shall clearly identify which parts of the measure are financial instruments or budgetary guarantees.
3.The Commission shall ensure a harmonised and simplified management of financial instruments, in particular in the area of accounting, reporting, monitoring and financial risk management.
4.Where the Union participates in a financial instrument as a minority stakeholder, the Commission shall ensure compliance with this Title in accordance with the principle of proportionality, on the basis of the size and value of the participation of the Union in the instrument. However, irrespective of the size and value of the Union participation in the instrument, the Commission shall ensure compliance with Articles 129 and 155, Article 209(2) and (4), Article 250 and, insofar as the exclusion situations referred to in point (d) of Article 136(1) are concerned, Section 2 of Chapter 2 of Title V.
5.Where the European Parliament or the Council consider that a financial instrument has not achieved its objectives effectively, they may request that the Commission submit a proposal for a revised basic act with a view to winding down the instrument. In the event of the winding down of the financial instrument, any new amount paid back to that instrument pursuant to Article 209(3) shall be considered as general revenue and returned to the budget.
6.The purpose of the financial instruments or a grouping of financial instruments on a facility level and, where applicable, their specific legal form and place of registration shall be published on the Commission website.
7.Entities entrusted with the implementation of financial instruments may open fiduciary accounts within the meaning of Article 85(3) on behalf of the Union. Those entities shall send the corresponding account statements to the Commission’s responsible service. Payments to fiduciary accounts shall be made by the Commission on the basis of payment requests that are duly substantiated with disbursement forecasts, taking into account the balances available on the fiduciary accounts and the need to avoid excessive balances on such accounts.
1.Financial instruments may be directly implemented pursuant to point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 62(1) through any of the following:
(a)a dedicated investment vehicle in which the Commission participates together with other public or private investors with a view to increasing the leverage effect of the Union contribution;
(b)loans, guarantees, equity participations and other risk-sharing instruments other than investments in dedicated investment vehicles, provided directly to final recipients or through financial intermediaries.
2.Dedicated investment vehicles referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1 shall be established pursuant to the laws of a Member State. In the field of external actions, they may also be established pursuant to the laws of a country other than a Member State. The managers of such vehicles shall be obliged by law or contractually to act with the diligence of a professional manager and in good faith.
3.The managers of dedicated investment vehicles referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1 and financial intermediaries or final recipients of financial instruments shall be selected with due account to the nature of the financial instrument to be implemented, the experience and the financial and operational capacity of the entities concerned, and the economic viability of projects of final recipients. The selection shall be transparent, justified on objective grounds and shall not give rise to a conflict of interests.
1.Separate records shall be kept for contributions to financial instruments established under this Section from funds implemented under shared management.
2.Contributions from funds implemented under shared management shall be placed in separate accounts and used in accordance with the objectives of the respective funds to actions and final recipients consistent with the programme or programmes from which contributions are made.
3.As regards contributions from funds implemented under shared management to financial instruments established under this Section, sector-specific rules shall apply. Notwithstanding the first sentence, managing authorities may rely on an existing ex ante evaluation, carried out in accordance with point (h) of the first subparagraph and the second subparagraph of Article 209(2), prior to contributing to an existing financial instrument.
1.The basic act shall define:
(a)the amount of the budgetary guarantee that shall not be exceeded at any time, without prejudice to Article 208(2);
(b)the types of operations covered by the budgetary guarantee.
2.Contributions from Member States to budgetary guarantees pursuant to Article 208(2) may be provided in the form of guarantees or cash.
Contributions from third parties to budgetary guarantees pursuant to Article 208(2) may be provided in the form of cash.
The budgetary guarantee shall be increased by the contributions referred to in the first and second subparagraph. Payments for guarantee calls shall be made, where necessary, by the contributing Member States or third parties on a pari passu basis. The Commission shall sign an agreement with the contributors that shall contain, in particular, provisions concerning the payment conditions.
1.Budgetary guarantees shall be irrevocable, unconditional and on demand for the types of operations covered.
2.Budgetary guarantees shall be implemented pursuant to point (c) of the first subparagraph of Article 62(1) or, in exceptional cases, pursuant to point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 62(1).
3.A budgetary guarantee shall only cover financing and investment operations which comply with points (a) to (d) of the first subparagraph of Article 209(2).
4.Counterparts shall contribute with their own resources to the operations covered by the budgetary guarantee.
5.The Commission shall conclude a guarantee agreement with the counterpart. The granting of the budgetary guarantee is subject to the entry into force of the guarantee agreement.
6.Counterparts shall provide the Commission annually with:
(a)a risk assessment and grading information concerning the operations covered by the budgetary guarantee as well as expected defaults;
(b)information on the outstanding financial obligation arising for the Union from the budgetary guarantee, broken down by individual operations, measured in compliance with the Union accounting rules as referred to in Article 80 or with IPSAS;
(c)the total profits or losses deriving from the operations covered by the budgetary guarantee.
1.Financial assistance by the Union to Member States or third countries shall be in accordance with pre-defined conditions and take the form of a loan or a credit line or any other instrument deemed appropriate to ensure the effectiveness of the support. To that end, the Commission shall be empowered, in the relevant basic act, to borrow the necessary funds on behalf of the Union on the capital markets or from financial institutions.
2.The borrowing and lending shall not involve the Union in the transformation of maturities, or expose it to any interest risk or to any other commercial risk.
3.The financial assistance shall be carried out in euro, except in duly justified cases.
4.The financial assistance shall be directly implemented by the Commission.
5.The Commission shall conclude an agreement with the beneficiary country that shall contain provisions:
(a)ensuring that the beneficiary country regularly checks that the financing provided has been properly used in accordance with the pre-defined conditions, takes appropriate measures to prevent irregularities and fraud, and, if necessary, takes legal action to recover any funds provided under the financial assistance that have been misappropriated;
(b)ensuring the protection of the financial interests of the Union;
(c)expressly authorising the Commission, OLAF and the Court of Auditors, to exert their rights as foreseen by Article 129;
(d)ensuring that the Union is entitled to early repayment of the loan where it has been established that, in relation to the management of the financial assistance, the beneficiary country has engaged in any act of fraud or corruption or any other illegal activity detrimental to the financial interests of the Union;
(e)ensuring that all costs incurred by the Union that relate to a financial assistance shall be borne by the beneficiary country.
6.The Commission shall release the loans, where possible in instalments, subject to the fulfilment of the conditions attached to the financial assistance. Where those conditions are not fulfilled, the Commission shall temporarily suspend or cancel the disbursement of the financial assistance.
7.Funds raised but not yet disbursed cannot be used for any other goal than to provide financial assistance to the corresponding beneficiary country. Pursuant to Article 86(1) and (2), the accounting officer shall set up the procedures for the safekeeping of the funds.