In case of insurance of export transactions with official support, rules of the European Union have to be obeyed in order to avoid distorting competition.
Trade and competition are issues of central significance in the European Union. In many cases, officially supported export credit insurance is an important precondition for an export transaction to come into being at all.
Legal background
Every member country of the EU has its own distinct credit insurance system and different cover policies. This variability can tilt the playing field between EU exporters and thus distort competition.
The whole field of government support for exports is dealt with in EU law both from the standpoint of the common trade policy and of state aid.
An important fact in this context is that the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits is binding law in the EU.
Regulations
Aside from the OECD Arrangement, the most influential regulations in the EU in this context are the following:
EU member countries have agreed to notify the other member states of transactions with a credit term of more than five years.
Consultations