Chapter IV, Article 17 · Regulation (EU) 2021/523

Contents

Article 17Guarantee agreements#

1.The Commission shall conclude a guarantee agreement with each implementing partner on the granting of the EU guarantee up to an amount to be determined by the Commission or on the provision of support under the InvestEU financial instrument.In the event that implementing partners form a group, a single guarantee agreement shall be concluded between the Commission and each implementing partner within the group or with one implementing partner on behalf of the group.

2.The guarantee agreement shall contain:

(a)the amount and the terms of the financial contribution which is to be provided by the implementing partner;

(b)the terms of the funding or the guarantees which are to be provided by the implementing partner to another legal entity participating in the implementation, whenever that is the case;

(c)detailed rules on the provision of the EU guarantee or of support under the InvestEU financial instrument in accordance with Article 19, including on the coverage of financing and investment operations or portfolios of specific types of instruments and on the respective events that trigger possible calls on the EU guarantee or on the use of the InvestEU financial instrument;

(d)the remuneration for risk-taking that is to be allocated in proportion to the respective share of the risk-taking of the Union and of the implementing partner or as reduced in duly justified cases pursuant to Article 13(2);

(e)the payment conditions;

(f)the commitment of the implementing partner to accept the decisions by the Commission and the Investment Committee as regards the use of the EU guarantee or of the InvestEU financial instrument for the benefit of a proposed financing or investment operation, without prejudice to the decision-making of the implementing partner in respect of the proposed financing or investment operation without the EU guarantee or the InvestEU financial instrument;

(g)provisions and procedures relating to the recovery of claims that is to be entrusted to the implementing partner;

(h)financial and operational reporting and monitoring of the financing and investment operations under the EU guarantee and the InvestEU financial instrument;

(i)key performance indicators, in particular as regards the use of the EU guarantee and the InvestEU financial instrument, the fulfilment of the objectives and criteria laid down in Articles 3, 8 and 14, and the mobilisation of private capital;

(j)where applicable, provisions and procedures relating to blending operations;

(k)other relevant provisions in compliance with the requirements of Article 155(2) and Title X of the Financial Regulation;

(l)the existence of adequate mechanisms for addressing the potential concerns of private investors.

3.A guarantee agreement shall also provide that remuneration attributable to the Union from financing and investment operations covered by this Regulation is to be provided after the deduction of payments due upon calls on the EU guarantee.

4.In addition, a guarantee agreement shall provide that any amount due to the implementing partner that relates to the EU guarantee shall be deducted from the overall amount of remuneration, revenues and repayments due by the implementing partner to the Union from financing and investment operations covered by this Regulation. Where that amount is not sufficient to cover the amount due to the implementing partner in accordance with Article 18(3), the outstanding amount shall be drawn from the provisioning for the EU guarantee.

5.Where the guarantee agreement is concluded under the Member State compartment, it may provide for the participation of representatives from the Member State or the regions concerned in the monitoring of the implementation of that guarantee agreement.

6.The Commission shall provide information to the European Parliament and the Council as required under Articles 41(5) and 158(8) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509.

Defined terms · 22

Show every defined term

advisory agreement
means a legal instrument whereby the Commission and the advisory partner specify the conditions for the implementation of the InvestEU Advisory Hub;
advisory initiative
means technical assistance and advisory services that support investment, including capacity building activities, provided by advisory partners, by external service providers contracted by the Commission, or by executive agencies;
advisory partner
means an eligible counterpart such as a financial institution or other entity with whom the Commission has concluded an advisory agreement for the purpose of implementing one or more advisory initiatives, other than advisory initiatives implemented through external service providers contracted by the Commission or through executive agencies;
blending operation
means, under the EU compartment, an operation supported by the Union budget that combines non-repayable forms of support, repayable forms of support, or both, from the Union budget with repayable forms of support from development or other public finance institutions, or from commercial finance institutions and investors;
compartment
means a part of the support provided under the InvestEU Fund defined in terms of the origin of the resources backing it;
contribution agreement
means a legal instrument whereby the Commission and one or more Member States specify the conditions for the implementation of the contribution under the Member State compartment, as laid down in Articles 10 and 10a;
financial contribution
means a contribution from an implementing partner in the form of own risk-taking capacity that is provided on a pari passu basis with the EU guarantee or in another form that allows an efficient implementation of the InvestEU Programme while ensuring appropriate alignment of interest;
financial product
means a financial mechanism or arrangement under the terms of which the implementing partner provides direct or intermediated financing to final recipients using any of the types of financing referred to in Article 16;
financing or investment operations
means operations to provide finance directly or indirectly to final recipients through financial products carried out by:
funds under shared management
means funds that provide for the possibility of allocating a portion of those funds to the provisioning for a budgetary guarantee or to a financial instrument under the Member State compartment of the InvestEU Fund, namely the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the ‘ESF+ Regulation for 2021-2027’), the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) established by Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the ‘CAP Strategic Plans Regulation’);
guarantee agreement
means a legal instrument whereby the Commission and an implementing partner specify the conditions for proposing financing and investment operations in order for them to be granted the benefit of the EU guarantee or of the InvestEU financial instrument, for providing the EU guarantee or support through the InvestEU financial instrument for those operations and for implementing them in accordance with this Regulation;
implementing partner
means an eligible counterpart such as a financial institution or other financial intermediary with whom the Commission has concluded a guarantee agreement;
important project of common European interest
means a project that fulfils all the criteria laid down in the Commission Communication on Criteria for the analysis of the compatibility with the internal market of State aid to promote the execution of important projects of common European interest or any subsequent revision of that Communication;
InvestEU financial instrument
means a financial instrument as defined in Article 2, point (30), of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council that is to be implemented under the Member State compartment of the InvestEU Fund.
InvestEU Programme
means the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub, the InvestEU Portal and blending operations, collectively;
investment platform
means a special purpose vehicle, managed account, contract-based co-financing or risk-sharing arrangement or an arrangement established by any other means by which entities channel a financial contribution in order to finance a number of investment projects, and which may include:
microfinance
means microfinance as defined in the relevant provisions of the ESF+ Regulation for 2021-2027;
national promotional bank or institution
means a legal entity that carries out financial activities on a professional basis which has been given mandate by a Member State or a Member State’s entity at central, regional or local level to carry out development or promotional activities;
policy window
means a targeted area for support by the EU guarantee or the InvestEU financial instrument as laid down in Article 8(1);
small mid-cap company
means an entity that is not an SME and that employs up to 499 employees;
SME
means (a) an enterprise which, according to its last annual or consolidated accounts, employs an average number of employees during the financial year of less than 250 and has an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million;
social enterprise
means a social enterprise as defined in the relevant provisions of the ESF+ Regulation for 2021-2027;