Global Trade Alert

 On 20 February 2014, the European Commission approved an Austrian short-term export-credit insurance scheme to cover 100% of man-made and natural catastrophes since "there is an unavailability of cover for these transactions in the private market for short-term export credit insurance in Austria" (par. 7, letter from the EC to Austria, 20.02.2014).
The maximum legal liability frame was put at 50 billion EUR and the insurance shall be provided through the Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG, Austria's largest financial insurer for the export market. The premium charged shall be fixed at 0.1% and 20% of its revenue shall be handed to the bank to cover the administration costs.
The scheme shall be in force until 31 December 2015 and is restricted to exports in all sectors to other EU or EEA countries.
The list of potentially affected trading partners and tariff lines is based on Austria's bilateral export flows in 2013 with the countries the EU classifies as marketable risk countries (i.e. either OECD or EU member states).
Update
On 15 February 2016, the EC approved the prolongation of the scheme until 31 December 2020.