Powers
ECGD’s statutory powers are set out in the Export and Investment Guarantees Act 1991 (external site).
Aim
ECGD's role is to benefit the UK economy by helping exporters of UK goods and services win business, and UK firms to invest overseas, by providing guarantees, insurance and reinsurance against loss, taking into account the Government’s international policies.
Objectives
ECGD's objectives are:
- to achieve the Financial Objectives set for it by Ministers;
- to operate in accordance with its Business Principles, so that its activities accord with other Government objectives, including those on sustainable development, human rights, good governance and trade;
- to promote an international framework that allows UK exporters to compete fairly by limiting or eliminating all subsidies and the adoption of consistent practices for assessing projects and countries on a multilateral basis;
- to recover the maximum amount of debt in respect of claims paid by ECGD in a manner consistent with the Government’s policy on debt forgiveness;
- to ensure ECGD’s facilities are, in broad terms, complementary to those in the private sector;
- to provide an efficient, professional and proactive service for customers which focuses on solutions and innovation; and
- to employ good management practice to recruit, develop and retain the people needed to achieve the Department’s business goals and objectives.
Business Principles
ECGD operates to a set of Business Principles consistent with the objectives listed above. To find out more about ECGD’s Business Principles, download the guide:
- ECGD's Business Principles
Download (PDF 225 KB)
These Business Principles will be applied through the following activities:
- We will further develop our existing guidelines and working procedures to assist detailed implementation of our policies at a practical level. These will be kept under review and updated to take account of international developments and operational experience.
- We will actively promote and communicate our principles and policies to all our customers, our overseas counterparts and other interested parties. We will prepare and support our staff to implement and apply our policies and procedures in an effective way.
- We will develop appropriate performance indicators to enable us to monitor and report on the implementation of the policies and procedures. The Export Guarantees Advisory Council (EGAC) will keep our Business Principles under review and suggest any necessary modifications.
As part of ECGD's continuing commitment to greater transparency, subject to consent of our customers, ECGD now publishes a list of projects with potentially high impacts for which ECGD support has been requested.
Annual Review and Resource Accounts
ECGD’s performance against these objectives, and other strategic goals, is reviewed in the ECGD Annual Report to Parliament.
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