The IF Committee
Article 13
1. The IF Committee set up under the auspices of the EIB according to Article 9 of the Internal Agreement shall consist of the representatives of the Member States and a representative of the Commission. Each Government shall nominate one representative and one designated alternate. The Commission shall act in the same way for its representative. With a view to maintaining continuity, the Chairman of the IF Committee shall be elected by and from among the members of the IF Committee for a period of two years. The EIB shall provide the Committee's secretariat and support services. Only the members of the IF Committee designated by the Member States, or their alternates, shall vote. The Council, acting unanimously, shall adopt the rules of procedure of the IF Committee on the basis of a proposal drawn up by the EIB after consulting the Commission. The IF Committee shall act by qualified majority. The weighting of the votes shall be as laid down in Article 8 of the Internal Agreement. The IF Committee shall meet at least four times a year. Additional meetings may be convened at the request of the EIB or of the members of the Committee as set out in the rules of procedure. In addition, the IF Committee may deliver an opinion by written procedure, in the terms established by its Rules of Procedure. 2. The IF Committee shall approve: (a) guidelines on the implementation of the Investment Facility, its development impact assessment framework and proposals for their revision; (b) the investment strategies and business plans of the Investment Facility, including performance indicators, on the basis of the objectives of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement and of the broad principles of Community development policy; (c) the annual reports of the Investment Facility; (d) any general policy document, including evaluation reports, concerning the Investment Facility. 3. Furthermore, the IF Committee shall deliver an opinion on: (a) proposals to grant an interest subsidy under Article 2(7), and Article 4(2), of Annex II to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement. In such cases, the IF Committee shall also deliver an opinion on the use of such an interest subsidy. In order to streamline the approval process for small operations, the IF Committee may give its favourable opinion to proposals from the EIB for a global allocation for interest subsidies that shall subsequently, without further opinion from the IF Committee and/or the Commission, be sub-allocated by the EIB to individual projects according to criteria set out in the global allocation, including the maximum interest subsidy sub-allocation per project; (b) proposals for an IF investment for any project for which the Commission has delivered a negative opinion; (c) other proposals relating to the Investment Facility based on the general principles defined in the operational guidelines. In addition, the governing bodies of the EIB may, from time to time, request that the IF Committee provides an opinion on all financing proposals, or on certain categories of financing proposals. 4. It shall be the EIB's responsibility to submit to the IF Committee in a timely manner any matters that require the approval or opinion of the IF Committee, as provided for in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3. Any proposal submitted to the Committee for an opinion shall be made in accordance with the relevant criteria and principles set out in the operational guidelines. 5. The EIB shall cooperate closely with the Commission and, where applicable, shall coordinate its operations with other donors. In particular: (a) the EIB shall prepare or revise jointly with the Commission the guidelines on the implementation of the Investment Facility referred to under paragraph 2(a). The EIB shall be held accountable for compliance to the guidelines and shall ensure that the projects it supports respect international social and environmental standards and are coherent with the objectives of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement and of the broad principles of Community development policy and with the relevant country or regional cooperation strategies; (b) the EIB shall request the opinion of the Commission beforehand on investment strategies, business plans and general policy documents; (c) the EIB shall inform the Commission on the projects it administers in accordance with Article 14(2) and request the opinion of the Commission at the appraisal stage of a project on the conformity of projects with the relevant country cooperation strategy or regional cooperation strategy or, as the case may be, with the general objectives of the Investment Facility; (d) with the exception of interest subsidies falling within the global allocation referred to under paragraph 3(a), the EIB shall also request the agreement of the Commission at the appraisal stage of a project on any proposal made to the IF Committee for an interest subsidy, as to its compliance with Article 2(7) and Article 4(2) of Annex II to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, and with the criteria defined in the operational guidelines of the Investment Facility. The Commission shall be deemed to have rendered a favourable opinion on or to have agreed to a proposal unless it notifies a negative opinion on such a proposal within two weeks following the submission of the proposal. As regards opinions for financial or public sector projects, as well as agreement to interest rate subsidies, the Commission may request that the final project proposal be submitted for its opinion or approval two weeks before being sent to the IF Committee. 6. The EIB shall not proceed with any action mentioned in paragraph 2 unless the IF Committee has given a favourable opinion. Following a favourable opinion of the IF Committee, the EIB shall decide on the proposal in accordance with its own procedures. In particular it may decide not to proceed with the proposal. The EIB shall periodically inform the IF Committee and the Commission of cases where it decides not to proceed. For loans from its own resources and for IF investments for which no opinion of the IF Committee is required, the EIB shall decide on the proposal in accordance with its own procedures and, in the case of the Investment Facility, in accordance with the guidelines and the investment strategies approved by the IF Committee. Notwithstanding a negative opinion of the IF Committee on a proposal to grant an interest subsidy, the EIB may proceed with the loan in question without the benefit of the interest subsidy. The EIB shall periodically inform the IF Committee and the Commission of each occasion on which it so decides to proceed. The EIB may, subject to conditions laid down in the operational guidelines, and the condition that the essential objective of the loan or Investment Facility investment in question be unchanged, decide to modify the terms of an Investment Facility loan or investment on which the IF Committee has given a favourable opinion under paragraph 2 or of any loan on which the IF Committee has given a favourable opinion regarding interest subsidies. In particular, the EIB may decide to increase the amount of the loan or Investment Facility investment by up to 20 %. Such an increase may, for projects with interest subsidies referred to in Article 2(7) of Annex II to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, result in a proportionate increase in the value of the interest subsidy. The EIB shall periodically inform the IF Committee and the Commission of each occasion on which it so decides to proceed. For projects falling under Article 2(7) of Annex II to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, if an increase in the value of the subsidy is requested, the IF Committee shall be required to deliver an opinion before the EIB proceeds. 7. The EIB shall manage Investment Facility investments and all funds held on account of the said Investment Facility in accordance with the objectives of the Agreement. It may, in particular, take part in the management and supervisory bodies of legal persons in which the Investment Facility is invested, and may compromise, discharge and modify the rights held on account of the Investment Facility in accordance with the operational guidelines.