The Council of Ministers extends the deadline for applying for ICO guarantees and amends the Code of Good Practice

The Council of Ministers has agreed to extend the application period for financing guaranteed by the Official Credit Institute (ICO), CESCE or CERSA (the guaranteed financing), as well as to raise the economic thresholds relating to the refinancing of the same, transferring these modifications to the Code of Good Practices. This agreement has been published in the Official State Gazette of 1 December 2021.

This amendment to the Code of Best Practices is adopted as a result of the changes introduced in the European Union’s Temporary State Aid Framework and seeks to bring the temporary framework for guaranteed financing into line with other measures recently adopted to promote economic recovery, such as the extension of the “insolvency moratorium” or the temporary suspension of the cause for dissolution due to losses.

Institutions that initially adhered to the Code of Best Practices will have a period of one month to notify the General Secretariat of the Treasury and International Finance of their intention not to be bound by the amendments introduced and to continue to be governed by the Code in its original version.

The following are the most relevant amendments introduced in the guaranteed financing and in the Code of Best Practices, comparing it for ease of reference with the previous situation.

Extension of the deadline for applying for the measures envisaged for the renegotiation and restructuring of guaranteed financing

In the original wording contained in the Resolution of the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and Business Support of 12 May 2021, the Code of Best Practices established different maximum deadlines for the application, implementation and maintenance of measures for the restructuring of guaranteed financing.

The amendment of the Code of Best Practices extends these deadlines by six months, without modifying or introducing additional restructuring measures (with the exception of the possibility of requesting a second transfer (haircut) in certain cases). It also facilitates the extension of the maturity of operations affected by the volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma, considerably reducing the eligibility conditions for the application of this measure.