ETHICS
I. ENVIRONMENTONDD analyses the environmental, social and human rights impacts of all transactions for which applications for support are received.
During the assessment, we try to strike a balance between the interests of civil society with those of the export community by carrying out an environmental study through to a successful conclusion while keeping in mind concerns for commercial confidentiality, quick decisions and a level playing field for competitors.
The basis of the impact analysis is inspired by the OECD “
Recommendation on Common Approaches on Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits”. This Recommendation calls for environment-related requirements for export deals to qualify for export credit support from the OECD governments’ Export Credit Agencies (ECAs). It requires these agencies to review projects for their potential environmental impacts and to benchmark them against international standards, such as those of the World Bank Group.
ONDD has taken an active part in negotiations on the OECD Common Approaches. Based on the first text, which was approved in 2000, we elaborated an environmental policy that came into effect on 1 January 2002. The text was revised in 2003 and 2007 and the internal procedure was adapted accordingly.
According to the OECD Common Approaches, only projects, goods and services that are directly linked to export projects of which the credit period is 2 years or more are governed by these environmental rules. ONDD has decided to extend the area of application for these rules and applies them to special cash transactions and to investments.
All applications submitted to ONDD are classified, irrespective of the amount of the transaction.
Category A: a project is classified as category A if it has the potential to have significant adverse environmental impacts. Category A, in principle, includes projects in sensitive sectors or located in or near sensitive areas.
Category B: a project is classified as category B if its potential environmental impacts are less adverse than those of category A projects. Typically, these impacts are site-specific, few if any of them are irreversible.
Category C: a project is classified as category C if it is likely to have minimal or no adverse environmental impacts.
Click
here to learn more about ONDD’s environmental and social policy.
Assessed transactions
This section contains transactions in category A. To be mentioned: the name of the project, country, publishing date, deadline for comment (any comments must be submitted within 30 days) and possibly a hyperlink to an Environmental Impact Assessment or EIA. ONDD requires the person or entity responsible for the EIA to publish it. However, as ONDD does not perform these assessments itself, it cannot make it available to the general public.
The information is published with the insurance client’s consent. Case files accepted under subcontracts will not be published as they are the responsibility of the main contractor.
Click here to consult the history of assessed transactions.
Click here to consult the list of assessed transactions.
Issued policies
This section contains transactions in categories A and B where a policy has been issued. It contains the exporter’s name, the project description, the country of destination, the contracting party, the amount category, the environmental category and any hyperlinks to EIAs.
Categories of amounts in millions of euros:
| 1 - Until 10 million | 2 - 10 to 30 million | 3 - 30 to 70 million | 4 - 70 to 100 million | 5 - more than 100 million |
The information is published with the insurance client’s consent. Case files accepted under subcontracts will not be published as they are the responsibility of the main contractor.
Click here to consult the history of issued policies.
Click here to consult the list of issued policies.
II. CORRUPTIONIn their battle against corruption, the OECD member states agreed to a new recommendation in 2006. An Action Statement already applied to official export credit insurers, resulting from the OECD anti-corruption convention signed on 17 December 1997. The recommendation is a revised and strengthened version of that action statement.
The General Terms of ONDD were adapted in accordance with the new OECD recommendation. They provide for several measures in case an insurance client is prosecuted or found guilty for corruption.
The insurance application form was complemented and the due diligence process was converted into a formal procedure.
The
insurance application form now includes information on the current legislation. The insurance client must pledge to comply with these regulations by submitting a declaration as part of the insurance application procedure.
He must also state that his name does not appear on the debarment lists of certain international financial institutions and that nor he nor persons acting for his account have been prosecuted or convicted for acts of corruption.
In accordance with the due diligence procedure, the underwriter has the duty to probe insurance applications involving insured parties that have been debarred by an international financial institution for acts of corruption, that have been prosecuted or that have been convicted for corruption in the past.
In cases where an insured party has been found guilty of corruption in the last five years prior to the application, the underwriter has to check whether internal remedies and preventive measures have been taken before support can again be granted for an export credit.
The underwriter also has to check whether the exporter/applicant’s name is on the World Bank’s debarment list regarding corruption.
Finally, the underwriter has to examine all dossiers with equal prudence, including dossiers for account of any other insurer.
ONDD is not allowed to grant support for a transaction if there is credible evidence for acts of corruption in awarding the export contract.
The executive committee and the board of directors have to report to the judicial authorities the information that has prompted a dossier to be rejected because of credible evidence for acts of corruption.
III. INDEBTEDNESSONDD makes sure the indebtedness of poor under the HIPC initiative (Highly Indebted Poor Countries) does not to increase by only accepting projects for such countries if they constitute a priority for their economic development.
The decision not only results from a specific commitment but also from an initiative of the credit insurers within the OECD concerning unproductive expenditure. You can find information on this initiative on the
OECD's web site.
IV. SOCIAL ISSUESExporters are encouraged to abide by the social standards mentioned in the OECD’s “Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises”, which is mainly about equal treatment, human rights and child labour.
The Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises contain a chapter on employment that encourages multinational enterprises to refrain from child labour and to avoid discrimination of all types.
Moreover, foreign contracts and projects help to foster the development of the host countries while strengthening our own economy.