The Aircraft Sector Understanding (ASU), which is a "gentlemen’s agreement", applies to officially supported export credits relating to civil aircraft. Although integrated as a sectoral annex into the Arrangement, it is a self-contained agreement, that operates with no recourse to any of the provisions of the Arrangement. The Participants to the ASU are slightly different from the Participants to the Arrangement. They are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, New-Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The prevailing ASU text can be found in Annex III of the current Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits.
The Evolution of the Arrangement document: includes evolution of the ASU.
Compared to the previous version of the ASU (January 2022), Articles 1 and 8 of Appendix III (Minimum Interest Rates) were modified to replace the temporary generic language added in January 2022 due to the discontinuation of LIBOR with specific alternatives.
The ASU stipulates that ASU Participants shall charge no less than the applicable MPR to account for the credit risk when providing an officially supported export credit. Premium is charged in addition to the interest rate, as it is meant to cover the risk of non-repayment of the export credits.
The standard 2011 ASU MPRs are updated on a quarterly basis and take effect respectively on the 15th of January, April, July and October of each year.
The ASU stipulates (Appendix II) that members of the Cape Town List may benefit from a reduction of the MPRs
The ASU stipulates that minimum interest rates shall apply for officially supported export credits relating to civil aircraft.
The CIRR rates for aircraft are updated on a monthly basis and take effect on the 15th of each month.
On 1 February 2022, in view of the cessation of LIBOR, the ASU Participants agreed to replace the use of LIBOR to compute the minimum floating rates and the margin benchmark with specific alternatives, the detailed changes are available here.
The Margin Benchmark used to compute the minimum floating interest rate is updated on a monthly basis and takes effect on the 15th of each month.
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