Export Credits Guarantee Department
Criticisms of the ECGD
The ECGD has been the subject of concern and criticism by UK-based NGOs; the Cornerhouse (see The Corner House (organisation)) has claimed that the ECGD has in effect provided public subsidy for bribery; Campaign Against Arms Trade has argued that the ECGD provides excessive levels of support for arms sales; Jubilee Debt Campaign has argued that the cancellation of debts owed to the ECGD should not be counted towards UK Official Development Assistance figures; World Wide Fund for Nature argues that excessive greenhouse gases are emitted from ECGD-supported projects and that this is inconsistent with wider UK environmental policy.
Defence Exports
The proportion of ECGD business in support of defence exports has ranged from 30% to 50% in recent years.
ECGD support for defence exports is conditional upon exporters obtaining valid export licences from the Department of Trade and Industry-based Export Control Organisation. All applications are assessed, on a case-by-case basis, against the consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing criteria.
Approximately 40% of UK export credits provided for 2006-07 were for defence exports. None of the exports supported is listed in the ECGD Resource Accounts for that year; defence sales are normally treated as commercially confidential. Slightly over half of the exports are treated as commercially confidential for that year.
ECGD Anti-Bribery and Corruption Procedures
ECGD aims to:
deter illegal payments, corrupt practices and money laundering by applicants for ECGD’s support; and
ensure, as far as is practicable, that all transactions that ECGD supports do not place ECGD in breach of any UK or European legislation or place the UK in contravention of any international agreements to which the UK is a party.
It does this through the public information it provides and the declarations in its application forms; it has some powers to make enquiries but these are limited. ECGD does not have a formal investigative capacity.
Key aspects of ECGD’s anti-bribery and corruption procedures are to:
Require applicants to provide copies of their codes of conduct and to confirm that they have applied them in tendering for the award of the contract for which ECGD support is sought;
Obtain information with a view to ascertaining whether any improper payments involving agents have been made;
Inspect, if necessary, exporters’ documents relating to winning contracts and making payments to agents;
Remind applicants of their obligations to comply with UK anti-corruption legislation;
Remind applicants that ECGD will refer all allegations of bribery, corruption or money laundering to the appropriate authorities;
Require applicants to declare that neither they nor any of their directors have admitted to, or been convicted of, engaging in any form of bribery or corruption;
Require applicants to disclose whether they, or anyone acting on their behalf, is under charge in a UK court for bribery of a foreign public official;
Require each applicant to make reasonable enquiries concerning any of its subsidiary companies, agents or consortium partners who, in each case, are involved in the contract for which ECGD support is sought and to confirm that, on the basis of those reasonable enquiries, the applicant has no cause to believe that any of those parties, or any of their directors, has admitted to, or been convicted of, engaging in any corrupt activity; and
Require each applicant to confirm that neither the applicant nor anyone acting on the applicant behalf has engaged in corrupt activity in relation to the contract for which ECGD support is sought.
External links
Export Credits Guarantee Department official website
The UK Export Credit Guarantee Department: Corruption and the Case for Reform UNICORN, Cardiff University, June 2002
Corner House: UK, ECGD and anti-corruption
Mark Thomas finds corruption sadly unregulated Mark Thomas, New Statesman, 1 January 2005
Depraved Debt Collectors, George Monbiot
The Use of Environmental and Social Criteria in Export Credit Agencies Practices, by Markus Knigge et al. Published in 2003 by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit – GTZ
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