Export Credit and Credit Guarantee Institutions - Balancing Values in the Regulatory Environment

Abstract

The role of export credit agencies in maintaining the availability of trade finance in difficult financial times is crucial. There have been many studies in economics and the social sciences about the role of these agencies. Much of the discussion is polarised; depending largely on where the critic stood on the globalisation debate. This article aims to explore, by a legal-historical analysis of the international regulatory framework of export credit agencies, how evolving values have influenced the shape of that framework. It demonstrates that the issues impacting on the regulatory framework are multi-layered and multi-textured. It argues therefore against a simplistic theoretical approach – suggesting that a better understanding of the interaction between public and private domains in which export credit is provided is needed.

Keywords: law, international trade law, export, credit