The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) will be lifting a burden on industry while maintaining its rigorous screening of projects for environmental and social impacts under new procedures starting on Monday 14 April.

ECGD will also introduce greater transparency into its revised case impact analysis process for UK exporters and investors. Details of projects with high potential impacts will now be published on ECGD’s website (www.ecgd.gov.uk) before a decision on providing cover on exports of capital goods and services to mainly developing countries is made.

International Trade Minister Baroness Symons said: “ECGD has listened to all of its stakeholders. The new procedure ensures that unnecessary burdens on businesses will be eliminated without affecting the integrity of the case impact analysis process.

“And greater transparency shows that ECGD is continuing to be more open in its dealings.”

ECGD will revamp its standard application forms for British companies applying for export credit guarantees, insurance or Overseas Investment Insurance cover. Information from the forms will be used to categorise applications into one of three new categories relating to the associated environmental and social impacts:

· Projects categorised as having Low potential impacts (e.g. replacement or refurbishment of equipment such as motors of pumps in factories) will not have their impacts scrutinised any further;
· Projects categorised as having Medium potential impacts (e.g. small scale power plants) will also require a revised Impact Questionnaire to be completed; and,
· Projects categorised as having High potential impacts (e.g. oil and gas projects), will require a formal environmental impact assessment, social impact assessment and/or a resettlement action plan.


Notes To Editors:


1. For further details about the revised case impact analysis process - which follows a consultation exercise carried out in 2002 with stakeholders - please visit the ECGD website or contact David Allwood, Business Principles Adviser on Tel: 020 7512 7323 or by email (dallwood@ecgd.gov.uk).

2. The case impact analysis process was first implemented in January 2001 on a pilot basis and had been scheduled for the further consultation in light of operational experiences.

3. ECGD, the Export Credits Guarantee Department, is the UK’s export credit agency. A separate Government Department reporting to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, it has more than 80 years’ experience of working closely with exporters, project sponsors, banks and buyers to help UK exporters of capital equipment and project-related goods and services. ECGD does this by providing:
· Insurance against non-payment to UK exporters, and
· Help in arranging finance packages for buyers of UK goods by guaranteeing bank loans, and
· Overseas Investment Insurance - a facility that gives UK investors up to 15 years’ insurance against political risks.

4. More information on ECGD and its products is available on its website www.ecgd.gov.uk

Press Enquiries:
Azara Bibi, ECGD Press Office, Tel: 020 7512 7421.
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