Exportní garanční a pojišťovací společnost (EGAP)
EGAP is the Czech Republic's official export credit agency (ECA), insuring political and commercial risks on exports of goods, services and investments from the Czech Republic and on their financing. EGAP is listed in the Berne Union member directory as Export Guarantee and Insurance Corporation.
Mandate and ownership
EGAP was established in 1992 as a fully state-owned joint stock company. The Czech Republic exercises shareholder rights through the Ministry of Finance. Activities are governed by the Insurance Act No. 277/2009 Coll. and by Act No. 58/1995 Coll. on Insurance and Financing of Exports with State Support.
EGAP states that it insures political and commercial risks related to financing exports of goods, services and investments from the Czech Republic that are otherwise uninsurable on the regular insurance market. That market-gap framing aligns with EU and OECD rules restricting state support for exports primarily to medium and long-term credits and higher-risk territories where commercial insurers do not operate on comparable terms. The product portfolio covers the export cycle from bid submission through financing of production or working capital to final instalment payment or settlement of a performance bond, for Czech exporters and investors regardless of size, legal form or export volume.
Buyer credit and supplier credit products
Insurance of an export buyer credit, EGAP product type D, covers a bank that grants a loan to an importer for purchase of goods or services. The bank pays the exporter, and the importer, or the importer's bank in an indirect buyer credit, repays under the credit contract. The repayment period is essentially longer than two years. Insurance terms observe OECD Arrangement disciplines: the importer must pay at least 15 percent of the export contract value in advance, and the maximum credit amount is 85 percent of the export contract value.
The bank is the insured party against non-payment of principal, interest and commitment fees under the defined repayment schedule. The insured event is partial or complete non-payment for commercial or territorial reasons or a combination of the two. Commercial reasons include the importer's financial insolvency or unwillingness to pay without legal reason.
Medium and long-term supplier credit insurance covers deferred-payment export claims with repayment longer than two years and the same 15 percent advance-payment discipline under the Arrangement. Short-term supplier credit products cover maturities under two years, for either the exporter or a bank that has purchased the exporter's receivables. Buyer credit structures leave the bank as lender of record, with EGAP export credit insurance attaching to the financed receivables.
Underwriting practice and country risk
EGAP publishes examination criteria for banking and non-banking counterparties, covering international sanctions exposure, anti-money laundering compliance, insolvency proceedings and proper legal establishment. Premium depends on the extent of risk covered, export volume and payment terms, importer and country risk, funding tenor and deductible.
EGAP also maintains an internal country risk barometer that may differ from official OECD country classification, since it draws on EGAP's own payment experience alongside a country's economic structure, political and legal environment and banking-sector conditions. Barometer indicators inform underwriting judgment; they do not replace the product-specific terms and conditions set out in the insurance policy. Formal country cover decisions remain subject to EGAP's internal assessment and, where Arrangement rules apply, to OECD country risk classification (CRC).
Boundaries
EGAP is the insurer under the policy, not the lender. On a buyer credit, the bank remains lender of record. On a classical supplier credit, the exporter remains the credit provider unless the receivables are sold to a bank under a financed supplier credit product. Credit review of EGAP cover identifies the product type, the Czech export nexus, Arrangement applicability, advance-payment evidence, covered risks, deductible and how policy proceeds connect to the underlying facility.
EGAP is Czech official state-supported export credit insurance capacity for defined political and commercial risks, delivered under Czech statute and OECD Arrangement disciplines, and recognised internationally through Berne Union membership. This page is institutional and definitional; it does not describe how a specific transaction should be structured or a counterparty monitored.