Regulation (EU) 2017/1601 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 9 U.K. Eligibility criteria for the use of the EFSD Guarantee

1. The financing and investment operations eligible for support through the EFSD Guarantee in accordance with the purpose of the EFSD set out in Article 3 shall be consistent and aligned with Union policies, in particular the Union’s development policy and European Neighbourhood Policy, as well as with the partner countries’ strategies and policies. Such operations shall take into account other Union and international support to ensure complementarity with other initiatives and shall support the following objectives:

(a) contributing to sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental dimensions, and to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and, where appropriate, the European Neighbourhood Policy, with a particular focus on the eradication of poverty, the creation of decent jobs, economic opportunities, skills and entrepreneurship, promoting in particular gender equality and the empowerment of women and young people, while pursuing and strengthening the rule of law, good governance and human rights;

(b) contributing to the implementation of the Union’s migration policy, including, where appropriate, the New Partnership Framework with third countries under the European Agenda on Migration;

(c) contributing, by promoting sustainable development, to addressing specific root causes of migration, including irregular migration, as well as fostering the resilience of transit and host communities, and contributing to the sustainable reintegration of migrants returning to their countries of origin, with due regard to the strengthening of the rule of law, good governance and human rights;

(d) strengthening socioeconomic sectors and areas and related public and private infrastructure, including renewable and sustainable energy, water and waste management, transport, information and communications technologies, as well as environment, sustainable use of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and blue growth, social infrastructure, health, and human capital, in order to improve the socioeconomic environment;

(e) providing finance and support to private and cooperative sector development, with a particular focus on local companies and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, while addressing market failures, limiting market distortions and encouraging the contribution of European companies to the EFSD objectives;

(f) addressing bottlenecks to private investments by providing financial instruments, which may be denominated in the local currency of the partner country concerned, including first loss guarantees to portfolios, guarantees to private sector projects such as loan guarantees for small and medium-sized enterprises, and guarantees for specific risks for infrastructure projects and other risk capital;

(g) leveraging private sector financing, with a particular focus on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, by addressing bottlenecks and obstacles to investment;

(h) contributing to climate action and environmental protection and management, thus producing climate co-benefits, allocating at least 28 % of the financing to investments that contribute to climate action, renewable energy and resource efficiency.

2. The EFSD Guarantee shall support financing and investment operations which address market failures or sub-optimal investment situations and which:

(a) provide additionality;

(b) ensure complementarity with other initiatives, making sure that EFSD Guarantee operations are clearly distinct, in particular from the external lending mandate operations managed by the EIB;

(c) ensure alignment of interest by providing adequate risk sharing by the respective eligible counterpart and other prospective partners;

(d) are economically and financially viable, with due regard to the possible support from, and co-financing by, private and public partners to the project, while taking into account the specific operating environment and capacities of countries identified as experiencing fragility or conflict, LDCs and heavily indebted poor countries where more concessional terms can be given;

(e) are technically viable and are sustainable from an environmental and social point of view;

(f) maximise, where possible, the mobilisation of private sector capital;

(g) respect the development effectiveness principles as set out in the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation and reaffirmed in Nairobi in 2016, including ownership, alignment, focus on results, transparency and mutual accountability, as well as the objective of untying aid;

(h) are designed so as to fulfil the criteria for ODA established by the OECD-DAC, taking into account the specificities of private sector development; and

(i) are implemented with full respect for internationally agreed guidelines, principles and conventions, including the Principles for Responsible Investment, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems, and International Labour Organization conventions, as well as international human rights law.

3. Financing and investment operations may combine, on a case-by-case basis, financing from different Union instruments to the extent that it is needed for the success of the investment project backed by the EFSD and as long as this does not lead to reduced financing for other developmental objectives.

4. Taking due account of the advice provided by the strategic board, the Commission shall, after consulting the operational boards and informing the European Parliament and the Council, set up investment windows for specific regions, specific partner countries, or both, for specific sectors, or for specific projects, specific categories of final beneficiaries, or both to be funded by instruments referred to in Article 10 to be covered by the EFSD Guarantee up to a fixed amount. The information provided by the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council shall specify how the investment windows are aligned with the requirements set out in Article 3 and this Article and their detailed funding priorities. The EIB should provide a written opinion on banking related matters to accompany each proposal for investment windows. All requests for financial support within investment windows shall be made to the Commission.

The choice of investment windows shall be duly justified by an analysis of the market failure or sub-optimal investment situations. Such analysis shall be carried out by the Commission in cooperation with potentially eligible counterparts and stakeholders.

Within the Africa Investment Platform, a significant share of the EFSD Guarantee shall be allocated to fragile and conflict-affected countries, landlocked countries and LDCs.

5. The Commission shall assess the operations supported by the EFSD Guarantee against the eligibility criteria set out in paragraphs 1 and 2, where possible drawing on the existing result measurement systems of eligible counterparts. The Commission shall publish the result of its assessment for each investment window on an annual basis.