Full text of Act No 151 / 1998 Coll.
Act on Insurance and Financing of Exports with State Aid and on the Addition of Act No. 166 / 1993 Coll., on the Supreme Audit Office, as amended (as follows from amendments and additions made by Act No. 60 / 1998 Coll.)
Valid
Declared full text
Text versions:
08.07.1998
151
_
Announces
full text of Act No. 58 / 1995 Coll., on Insurance and Financing of Exports with State Aid and on Addition of Act No. 166 / 1993 Coll., on the Supreme Audit Office, as amended, as follows from amendments and additions made by Act No. 60 / 1998 Coll.
THE LAW
on insurance and financing of exports with State aid and supplementing Act No. 166 / 1993 Coll., on the Supreme Audit Office, as amended
Parliament has decided on this law of the Czech Republic:
INSURANCE AND FINANCING OF STATE AID EXPORT
Subject matter
The Act provides for State aid
(a) insurance of export credit risks, which means insurance:
1. short-term export credits against non-payment due to territorial or combined territorial and market-unreinsurance commercial risks; or
2. long-term export credits against non-payment as a result of territorial or combined territorial and market-unreinsurance commercial risks, or non-payment as a result of market unreinsurance commercial risks; or
3. investment of Czech legal entities abroad against the risk of avoiding the transfer of income from investment, expropriation or politically motivated violent damage; or
4. exporters against losses associated with the preparation and implementation of commercial activities; or
5. loans granted by manufacturers or exporters to finance production intended for export against the risk of default due to the failure of the manufacturer or exporter to comply with the terms of the export contract; or
6. bank guarantees or other services provided by the exporter's bank to a foreign exporter against the risk of default of the exporter's contractual obligations under the export contract; or
7. the risk of foreign exchange losses of the Czech koruna in respect of foreign currencies arising in the event of claims due to the difference between the rate applicable in the negotiation of the insurance contract and the rate applicable in the payment of the claims;
(b) export financing in the form of:
1. the financing of export credits and the provision of export-related financial services under conditions favourable to market conditions, in particular in terms of the maturity of the debtor's or the exporter's or producer's obligations and the level of interest rates ("preferential financing"); or
2. Granting part of the interest differences incurred by exporters on lower interest income by them to export supplier credits with a maturity of more than 2 years compared to the interest costs of exporters associated with the financing of such loans (hereinafter referred to as "remuneration of interest differences").
Definition of terms
For the purposes of this Act:
(a) by the exporter, a natural person with a permanent residence or a legal person established in the territory of the Czech Republic, which is an entrepreneur (1) and carries out an export;
(b) by a manufacturer, a natural person with a permanent residence or a legal person established in the territory of the Czech Republic, who is an entrepreneur (1), who produces or provides services or ensures the production of goods or services intended for export;
(c) the manufacturer's bank which provides the manufacturer with a credit related to the production of goods or services intended for export;
(d) by the exporter's bank the bank which grants the export-related credit to the exporter or to a foreign person;
(e) by export credit, funds provided by contract or export supplier credit to a natural person residing or having its registered office outside the Czech Republic,
(f) an export contract between the exporter and the importer;
(g) by investing abroad in funds or other valuables or property rights spent by a legal person who is an entrepreneur (1) based in the Czech Republic for the purpose of establishing or acquiring or extending an equity interest in a business outside the Czech Republic for a period of at least 3 years;
(h) the territorial risk of default of an export credit claim due to exceptional and random events in the country to which it is exported or in the country from which the claim is to be paid or in a third country;
(i) the commercial risk of default of an export credit claim by a foreign person due to its insolvency or default;
(j) the host State of the territory of the foreign State in which the investment is directed abroad to be covered by insurance or preferential financing;
(k) financial services related to the export of activities carried out by the Czech Export Bank, a. s. (hereinafter referred to as "the Export Bank") on the basis of an authorisation under a special law, 1a) related to export,
(l) financial resources obtained in particular through the sale of bonds and credit agreements;
(m) domestic and foreign money and capital markets;
(n) domestic and foreign markets' capital markets with a maturity of more than 1 year;
(o) other operations of the operation related to the acquisition of financial resources to safeguard the liquidity of the exporting bank, including reinsurance operations;
(p) hedging operations of an operation aimed at reducing exchange rate and interest rate risks;
(r) transfer of funds between banks by interbank payments;
(s) by the exporter's export supplier credit, the time-limit agreed between the fulfilment of the exporter's undertaking and the importer's obligation to pay the exporter for its performance;
(t) market unreinsurance commercial risks which cannot be secured on the private commercial credit protection market under conditions normal on international markets;
(u) insurance engagement: the sum of the values of the insured loans of the insurance contracts concluded, including interest and contractual charges, minus the duly paid instalments of those loans and the values of the insurance promise contracts of 50% of their nominal value;
(v) a positive assessment of the acceptability of reaching the investment stage for the acquisition of long-term financial resources;
(x) by a specialised institution, a foreign person who, in accordance with his authority, shall assess the credibility of the exporter's bank and the manufacturer's bank;
(y) export of supplies of goods or services to importers under the Export Contract for use outside the Czech Republic;
(z) an importer of a foreign person who carries out imports from the Czech Republic.
Conditions for insurance of export credit risks, granting of preferential financing and reimbursement of interest differences
(1) The condition for insurance of export credit risks, the granting of preferential financing and the payment of interest differences is that the share of export value created in the Czech Republic will be at least 60% of the export value. The method of proving the export value ratio shall be laid down by the Ministry of Finance by law. The value of the export is the price agreed between the exporter and the importer.
(2) The insurance of export credit risks referred to in Article 1 (a) and the preferential financing referred to in Article 1 (b) (1) shall be subject to an assessment of the risk of return on the export credit with regard to the solvency of a foreign person in the status of debtor and of the country from which the claim is to be paid or to which the investment is to be directed abroad; for loans granted to an exporter, manufacturer, exporter's bank or producer's bank, the consideration of the risk of return shall be assessed, in particular the solvency of the exporter's bank, the manufacturer's bank and the exporter's ability to meet the conditions of the export contract.
(3) The granting of preferential financing and the payment of interest differences are subject to the insurance of export credit risks insurable by Export Guarantee and Insurance Companies, a. s. ("Export Insurance Company") pursuant to § 1 (a). The risks associated with preferential financing which are not covered by export credit risk insurance under this Act shall be provided directly by the exporter, the exporter's bank, the manufacturer and the reinsurance manufacturer's bank to the export bank, with the exception referred to in Section 8 (5).
Export credit risk insurance services
(1) Export credit risk insurance is entrusted to the export insurance company. The condition for the operation of export credit risk insurance is that the sole shareholder of the Export Insurance Corporation is the State which exercises its shareholder rights through the central administration. (2a) The central authorities of the State exercising the State's shareholder rights shall entrust at least two-thirds of the members of these bodies to the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board of the Export Insurance Corporation. Unless otherwise provided for in this Act, the provisions of the Special Act shall apply to the Export Insurance Corporation. (3) The statutes of the Export Insurance Corporation must include, outside the requirements laid down in the Special Act (4), a prohibition on the consent of employees to a business or other form of gainful activity identical to that of the Export Insurance Corporation.
(2) The Export Insurance Corporation may not set up or establish legal persons, with the exception of the Export Bank, or participate in or acquire holdings in the establishment or establishment of the Export Insurance Corporation, except for the temporary acquisition of shares in the debtor's assets in order to ensure the recovery of claims against the debtor. Temporary acquisition of shares shall be subject to the approval of the Ministry of Finance.
(3) The Funds (5) for the insurance of export credit risks consist of allocations from the distribution of profits of the Export Insurance Corporation and subsidies from the State Budget for the creation of such funds. Subsidies from the state budget are provided depending on the development of insurance exposures and become a permanent part of these funds. Reserves shall be constituted in accordance with specific provisions. (5a) With these funds and reserves, the Export Insurance Corporation operates separately from other reserves and funds.
(4) When insurance of export credit risks, the Export Insurance Corporation operates under this Act and the General Insurance Conditions approved by the Ministry of Finance; it is obliged to make economic use of budget subsidies and guarantees.
(5) Export insurance undertakings may not accept export credit risks in excess of their insurance capacity for insurance. The insurance capacity is the upper limit of the insurance liabilities arising from insurance contracts concluded and insurance promise contracts which may be contracted for the period up to the end of the calendar year. The State budget for the year shall specify the amount of insurance capacity of the Export Insurance Corporation as well as the amount of the subsidy from the State Budget resources to supplement the insurance funds. The method of calculating the insurance capacity shall be laid down by the Ministry of Finance by law, based on the sum of the export credit risk values contained in the valid and developed insurance policies and insurance promise contracts, the expected addition of insurance funds from the distribution of profits, changes in technical provisions of the Export Insurance Corporation and the distribution of valid and developed insurance policies and insurance promise contracts according to the degree of risk.
(6) The Export Insurance Corporation may insure individual export credit risks up to 20% of the insurance capacity established for the year in which the insurance is agreed on. With the approval of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Industry and Trade, the Export Insurance Corporation is entitled to insure individual export credit risks up to 40% of the insurance capacity. Individual credit risks exceeding 40% of the insurance capacity may be insured by the Export Insurance Corporation with the approval of the Government.
(7) The Ministry of Finance shall lay down the legal arrangements for the creation of the funds referred to in paragraph 3, the ratio between the amount of the reserves and the funds referred to in paragraph 3 and the amount of the claims and the share of the export insurance undertaking in the performance of those provisions and funds.
(8) The Export Insurance Corporation provides half-yearly information to the Chamber of Deputies on the insurance of export credit risks. This information shall include in particular:
(a) details of the Export Insurance Corporation, in particular its capital, changes in the composition of the central authorities exercising shareholder rights, changes in the composition of the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board, as well as the balance sheet of the Insurance Company;
(b) data on the operation of export credit risk insurance, in particular analysis of such insurance, including territorial and sectoral structure, use of State budget funds, the relationship between the demand for such insurance and the insurance capacity of the Export Insurance Corporation, as well as data on the expected development of such insurance.
Forms of application
(1) The application for insurance of export credit risks associated with each export is submitted by the exporter or the exporter's bank (the applicant) to the export insurance undertaking.
(2) The applicant shall indicate in the application referred to in paragraph 1:
(a) their identification data, 6)
(b) the amount of its net assets and, where applicable, the participation of foreign persons in its business;
(c) the characteristics of the export object and its volume, the assumed proportion of the export value to be created in the Czech Republic, the expected extent of the export credit, the payment terms and the time distribution of the drawing and repayment of the credit provided;
(d) data on the foreign person to whom the export credit is granted, in particular identification data (6) and data on his economic situation and payment morale.
(3) Following an application submitted by the Export Insurance Corporation, the applicant may conclude an insurance contract, 7) and, if the Export Contract has not yet been negotiated, an insurance promise contract. 8)
(4) There is no legal claim for export credit risk insurance.
Favourable financing and reimbursement of interest differences
(1) An export bank is entrusted with the operation of preferential financing. The condition for operating the preferential financing is that the shares of the Export Bank are at least two thirds State-owned and in the rest are owned by the Export Insurance Corporation. The State shall exercise its shareholder rights through the competent central government authorities. (2a) The central authorities of the State exercising the State's shareholder rights shall entrust at least two-thirds of the members of the authorities to the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board of the Export Bank. Unless otherwise provided for in this Act, the provisions of the Specific Acts shall apply to the Export Bank. 9) The statutes of the Export Bank must contain, outside the terms of the special Act 4)
(a) provisions on the preferred use of profit for the addition of funds to secure the export bank's activities;
(b) a ban on the consent of employees to a business or other form of gainful activity identical to that of an export bank.
(2) The export bank's mission is to conduct preferential financing and carry out related activities in accordance with a permit issued under a special law. 10) The Export Bank operates preferential financing by providing loans to the exporter's bank (hereinafter referred to as "refinancing loans'), lending directly to the exporter, manufacturer or foreign person (hereinafter referred to as" direct loans'), by providing loans to the manufacturer's bank and by providing related financial services, in particular in the form of loans granted by the exporting bank to finance the production for export and export financing, and by guaranteeing the exporter's, producer's, exporter's and producer's banks' liabilities. The Export Bank operates preferential financing under conditions prevailing on international markets for officially supported export credits and related financial services. The methods of operating the preferential financing shall be laid down by the Ministry of Finance by law; when issuing legislation, the Ministry of Finance is based on the need for efficient use of funds. The sources for preferential financing are obtained by the Export Bank on the financial markets.
(3) The Export Bank may not establish, establish or participate in the establishment or establishment of legal entities or acquire shareholdings in them, except in the case of legal persons whose business is the provision and transfer of interchange payments and the transfer of information, as well as shares in legal entities which are temporarily acquired and held by the Export Bank within a maximum of 1 year of their acquisition in connection with the exercise of the collateral agreed pursuant to Article 8 (5). The approval of the Ministry of Finance is required for temporary acquisition of holdings.
(4) Interest-rate differences are paid to exporters by the Ministry of Finance through the Export Bank.
(5) The request for reimbursement of interest differences linked to each export shall be submitted by the exporter to the Ministry of Finance via the Export Bank, which shall continue in accordance with paragraph 9.
(6) In the application, the exporter shall indicate:
(a) their identification data, 6)
(b) the participation of foreign persons in its business, if any;
(c) the characteristics of the subject matter of the export and its volume;
(d) the proportion of export value created in the Czech Republic,
(e) payment terms and time distribution of the credit granted by the exporter's bank;
(f) the payment terms specified in the Export Contract;
(g) details of the foreign person receiving the export supplier's credit, in particular identification data, 6)
(h) the amount of interest-rate differences required;
(i) other information necessary to assess the granting of interest-rate differences.
(7) With an application for reimbursement of interest differences, the exporter shall submit:
(a) the insurance contract referred to in Article 5 (3),
(b) confirmation by the bank of the granting of a loan for individual exports;
(c) a declaration that no preferential financing has been granted or applied for for for the relevant exports.
(8) The amount of the repayment of interest differences to the exporter amounts to a maximum of 50% of the interest differences referred to in Section 1 (b) (2). In determining the amount of the payment of the interest difference to the exporter, the total amount of the payments of interest differences granted to exporters in the relevant calendar year by the State Budget and the proportion of the participation of the State Budget in the remuneration of interest differences. In the case of the granting of interest-rate differences to an exporter in one calendar year, the same percentage shall be granted for the entire duration of the export supplier credit.
(9) The terms and conditions for the payment of interest differences, as well as the export bank's procedure for providing interest rate differences, are laid down by the Ministry of Finance by law.
(10) At the request of the Ministry of Finance or of the Export Bank, the exporter is required to demonstrate the accuracy of the information contained in the application for reimbursement of interest differences pursuant to Section 6 (5).
(11) There is no legal claim to cover interest differences.
(12) The losses of the export bank resulting from the operation of the preferential financing are subsidised by the State budget. The losses consist of differences between the cleared interest costs of obtaining financial resources for preferential financing and the cleared interest income associated with the granting of preferential financing and the temporary use of those resources, fees agreed in writing between the creditor and the export bank associated with the acquisition of such financial resources, the cost of creating reserves and adjustments under the special law, 5a) differences between costs and revenues from operations with financial derivatives, differences in exchange rates and other costs evidenced by the export bank for obtaining financial resources. The request for loss subsidy is submitted by the Export Bank to the Ministry of Finance. The details of the determination of losses, the way in which the application for loss subsidies is submitted and the way in which they are subsidised shall be laid down by law.
(13) The Export Bank does not accept deposits from natural persons except those from producers and exporters.
(14) The rules of prudent business for the export bank are laid down in the Czech National Bank11) in an agreement with the Ministry of Finance.
(15) In the case of preferential financing, the export bank shall proceed under general commercial conditions, which shall include at least an adjustment to the eligibility of the exporter's bank and the manufacturer's bank to procure long-term financial resources on international financial markets. Where the provision of refinancing loans and loans to the manufacturer's bank is adjusted, the general terms and conditions shall also include the maximum amount of the interest premium on the exporters' and producer's banks' banks on the interest costs for which they obtained refinancing and export bank loans.
(16) The General Terms and Conditions referred to in paragraph 15 are approved by the Ministry of Finance in an agreement with the Czech National Bank.
(17) The Export Bank provides the Chamber of Deputies with information on preferential financing. This information shall include in particular:
(a) details of the export bank, in particular the amount of its capital, changes in the composition of the central authorities exercising shareholder rights, changes in the composition of the board of directors and supervisory board, and the balance sheet of the export bank;
(b) details of the operation of the preferential financing, in particular the analysis of the financing, including the territorial and sectoral structure, the use of State budget funds, the relationship between the demand for preferential financing and the possibilities for the export bank to meet this demand, as well as the expected development of the preferential financing.
(18) State control over preferential financing is carried out by the Ministry of Finance under a special law. 12) The exercise of State control consists in checking compliance with the provisions of this Act on the drawing-up and use of State budget funds in the granting of preferential financing. The State Control Authority shall have the right to take part in the deliberations of the Export Bank's authorities when deciding on the use and use of the State Budget. In determining the breach of the obligations subject to state control, the State Control Authority shall inform the Export Bank Supervisory Board of its findings.
Forms of application
(1) An application for preferential financing linked to individual exports is submitted by the applicant to the exporting bank. The applicant may be the exporter's bank or producer's bank, foreign person, exporter or producer. The application for preferential financing shall contain the elements referred to in Article 5 (2), supplemented by identification data (6) of the exporter's bank or producer's bank, if these applicants are not to be granted preferential financing. With the application for preferential financing, the applicant submits to the Export Insurance Corporation an application for export credit risk insurance (Section 5 (1)), except where the applicant for export credit risk insurance is an export bank.
(2) The exporter's bank or producer's bank to which the preferential financing is to be granted are required to provide the export bank with data on its capital, balance sheet and other data to assess their ability to ensure the return on the preferential financing granted.
(3) On the basis of a request submitted for preferential financing, the Export Bank may conclude an export-related credit or other financial service contract with the exporter's or producer's bank, a foreign person, producer or exporter and, if the export contract has not been negotiated, an export-related promise contract or an export-related promise contract. 8)
(4) There is no legal entitlement to preferential financing.
(1) The State guarantees liabilities
(a) export insurance companies from export credit risk insurance under Article 1 (a);
(b) export banks from the repayment of financial resources received by the export bank and from other operations of the export bank on the financial markets.
(2) Relations which arise between the State and the foreign person for whose benefit the guarantee referred to in paragraph 1 (b) is provided shall be governed by the provisions of a special law. 12a)
(3) If this does not conflict with the law of another State, the State is liable under paragraph 1 (b) unconditionally and irrevocably. The Ministry of Finance is entitled to confirm the State guarantee in writing.
(4) In order to obtain the financial resources of the Export Bank on the Capital Markets, the consent of the Ministry of Finance, which the Ministry of Finance grants in agreement with the Czech National Bank, unless special Act 13 provides otherwise.
(5) In order to ensure repayment of direct loans granted to exporters and producers, refinancing loans to the exporter's bank and loans to the manufacturer's bank, and to provide other forms of preferential financing to these persons, the reinsurance export bank shall negotiate collateral. The Export Bank shall not be obliged to arrange for the repayment of the refinancing loans granted to the exporter's bank and loans to the manufacturer's bank and the provision of other forms of preferential financing to those banks if the exporter's bank or producer's bank fulfils the following criteria for assessing its acceptability as a debtor:
(a) a positive assessment of the acceptability of the acquisition of long-term financial resources from one of the specialised institutions whose evaluation is recognised as decisive on the financial markets;
(b) the ability to procure long-term financial resources on international financial markets under the general commercial conditions referred to in Article 6 (15).
(6) In the case of the State's performance under the State guarantee, it is the responsibility of the Export Insurance Corporation and the Export Bank to pay the State's liabilities arising from the transfer of the claims taken over in connection with the insurance of export credit risks or preferential financing to the Ministry of Finance, to the extent appropriate to the State's share of the State's liability under the State guarantee provided that the Export Bank has negotiated collateral.
repealed
Complement of Act No. 166 / 1993 Coll., on the Supreme Audit Office, as amended
Act No. 166 / 1993 Coll., on the Supreme Audit Office, as amended by Act No. 331 / 1993 Coll., Act No. 117 / 1994 Coll. and Act No. 224 / 1994 Coll., is added as follows:
The following words are deleted at the end of Paragraph 3 (5) and the following words are added: "and the management of the Export Guarantee and Insurance Company, Stock Company, Prague, with the funds provided from the State Budget to operate export credit risk insurance, and the Czech Export Banks, Stock Company, Prague, with the funds provided from the State Budget to operate preferential financing under a special law, as well as the management of these companies with the funds for which the State assumed the guarantee."
This Act shall take effect on the day of its publication.
* * *
Act No. 60 / 1998 Coll., amending and supplementing Act No. 58 / 1995 Coll., on Insurance and Financing of Exports with State Aid and supplementing Act No. 166 / 1993 Coll., on the Supreme Audit Office, as amended, took effect on the date of its publication (30 March 1998).
* * *
Article II of Law No 60 / 1998 Coll. reads:
Terms Czech Export Bank, Stock Company, Prague and Export Guarantee and Insurance Company, Stock Company, Prague, used in the current legislation, are understood as Czech Export Bank, a. s., and Export Guarantee and Insurance Company, a. s. as effective date of this Act.
Zeman v. r.
1) Paragraph 2 (2) of the Commercial Code.
(1a) Act No. 21 / 1992 Coll., on Banks, as amended.
2a) Act No. 2 / 1969 Coll., on the establishment of ministries and other central government bodies of the Czech Republic, as amended.
3) Act No. 185 / 1991 Coll., on Insurance, as amended by Act No. 320 / 1993 Coll.
4) Part Two, Title I, Parts I and in the Commercial Code.
5) Article 14 of Act No. 185 / 1991 Coll., as amended by Act No. 320 / 1993 Coll.
5 a) Act No. 593 / 1992 Coll., on provisions for determining the income tax base, as amended. Decree No. 52 / 1994 Coll., which provides for the creation, use and location of technical provisions of the insurance undertaking.
6) Paragraph 28 (1) (a) to (e) of the Commercial Code.
7) § 788 et seq. of the Civil Code.
8) § 289 et seq. of the Commercial Code.
9) Act No. 21 / 1992 Coll., as amended. Act No. 6 / 1993 Coll., on the Czech National Bank, as amended by Act No. 60 / 1993 Coll.
10) Act No. 21 / 1992 Coll., as amended.
11) § 24 of Act No. 6 / 1993 Coll., as amended.
12) Act No. 552 / 1991 Coll., on State Control, as amended by Act No. 166 / 1993 Coll.
12a) § 11 of Act No. 97 / 1963 Coll., on Private International Law and Procedure, as amended.
13) § 45 et seq. of Act No. 591 / 1992 Coll., on Securities, as amended.
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Regulation Information
| Citation | Full text of Act No. 151 / 1998 Coll., Act on Insurance and Financing of Exports with State Aid and on the Addition of Act No. 166 / 1993 Coll., on the Supreme Audit Office, as amended (as is apparent from amendments and additions made by Act No. 60 / 1998 Coll.) |
|---|---|
| Regulation Type | Declared full text |
| Author | - |
| Collection | Code of Laws |
| Date of Promulgation | 08.07.1998 |
|---|---|
| Effective from | - |
| Effective until | - |
| Status | Valid |
The regulation text is for informational purposes only.
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