Terms and conditions of the EBRD Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) for requesting a grant payment

The purpose of this document is to inform about the rules for grant payments to sub- borrowers of the Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) and for using the Verification Management System (VMS).

By using GEFF loan and/or by applying for an EU grant you confirm you have read this Terms and Conditions, accept them in full, and declare yourself to be legally bound to them.

Abbreviations, Definitions:

GEFF: Green Economy Financing Facility
EBRD: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; EBRD is the owner of GEFF and the Verification Management System
PFI: Participating Financial Institution
EU: European Union
FC: Facility Consultant
The Facility Consultant administers the GEFF Program on behalf of EBRD
Sub-borrower: Individual who applies for a loan and grant under the GEFF Program
Sub-project: the energy efficiency measure or measures that the sub borrower wants to implement under the GEFF Program
VMS: Verification Management System
Dwelling: privately owned house or apartment

Eligible Sub-borrowers

Individuals: Private individuals or groups of individuals recognized under the national laws with access to the building in respect of which they intend to perform a sub-project.

Eligible Sub-projects

Sub-project may be eligible if it:

• is comprised of technologies, equipment and materials listed in the Technology Selector (“Pre-Approved Technologies”); or has been determined as eligible by the Facility Consultant during an assessment of eligibility;
• has not benefitted, or will not benefit, from any grant and/or investment incentive (other than the donor contribution); and
• is not duplicated in another sub-project implemented by the same sub-borrower in the same building or dwelling. Only one Sub-loan application per eligible measure may be submitted for the same sub-project (Dwelling or Building) unless pre-approved by the FC.
• is financially viable, namely meeting the PFI’s usual credit criteria and assessed positively by the PFI in accordance with its usual credit appraisal procedures;
• is in compliance with all applicable national environmental, social and health and safety legislation;

Ineligible Sub-projects

(a) A Sub-loan may not be made for the purpose of financing the following:

• production and/or trade of arms or military equipment;
• financial institutions or financial services companies;
• insurance business;
• production or export of tobacco or hard liquor;
• sale of tobacco or hard liquor (other than where the sale of tobacco or hard liquor is ancillary to the entity’s primary business activity);
• casinos or other gambling facilities;
• speculative investments in property or currencies or any other speculative investment activities;
• investments in securities of any kind, including investments in share capital of other companies;
• any activities appearing on the EBRD Environmental and Social Exclusion List contained in Appendix 1 of the EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy dated May 2014; or
• without the prior written consent of EBRD, any activities appearing on the list of environmentally or socially sensitive activities contained in Appendix 2 of the EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy dated May 2014 (the use of proceeds of any sub-loan involving a sub-project, described in Paragraph 13 (fourth bullet point) of EBRD Performance Requirement 9 shall also satisfy the requirements of EBRD Performance Requirements 1 through 8 and 10).

(b) In addition, a sub-loan may not be made for the purpose of financing:

• investments in Greenfield Investments;
• purchase of land;
• investments in real estate solely with the aim of making short- or medium-term profit on sales; and
• refinancing (or other type of replacement/consolidation) of any existing term loan or credit operations of the sub-borrower
• investment in business premises
• investment in dwellings which are or will be used as business premises

GEFF Loans

Loan Originators

GEFF loans are granted (originated) by Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs). The exclusive list of PFIs can be found on the national GEFF websites.

Loans granted by other banks are not qualified to be GEFF loans.

Loan Purpose

Only loans with the exclusive purpose to finance purchase and correct installation of highly energy efficient materials and equipment listed on the Technology Selector which will be installed in privately owned dwellings (houses and apartments) can be considered as GEFF loans.

Grants

Grant Purpose

GEFF sub-borrowers are entitled to receive a grant upon the full and correct completion and implementation of the energy efficiency project in line with the documentary evidence provided with the Verification Request.

Proofs of Project Completion

Completion of each sub-project has to be supported with appropriate documentary evidence.

The following documents are required for a successful verification (please note that the required document depend on the project type):

• Application form
• Invoice(s) that show the final costs for the eligible technologies that were installed as well as auxiliary costs, including labor costs
• Proof of payment (fiscal receipt/ bank transfer confirmation/ bank payment order stamped and signed by bank/ POS slip/ e-banking payment order)
• Energy performance certificate according to the EU Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings or relevant national regulations (if applicable)
• Annex C (for new construction of individual or multi apartment buildings)
• Purchasing contract for apartment (if applicable)
• Utilisation Permission (if applicable)
• Other documents as requested by the Facility Consultant

In case the sub-borrower fails to provide the requested documents or provides documents that are incorrect/unreliable or provides documents that do not correspond to the installation done on the sub-project location, the sub-project will be rejected.

Grant Percentages

The calculation of the grant due to the sub-borrower will be conducted by the Facility Consultant during the verification of the sub-project.

Individual sub-borrowers implementing an eligible sub-project in their dwelling are eligible to receive an investment incentive payment/grant of an amount equal to:

• in respect of a sub-project involving a single technology category from the Technology Selector 15% of the lower of (A) the disbursed amount of the sub-loan, and (B) the verified investment cost of the sub-project;
• in respect of a sub-project involving a package of more than one technology category from the Technology Selector, 20% of the lower of (A) the disbursed amount of the sub-loan, and (B) the verified investment cost of the sub-project.

For more information on which measures can be combined please see Incentives Table.

Each measure must substantially contribute to the energy savings of the sub-project.

Grant Application Process

The VMS should be used by the sub-borrower for submission of the Verification Request. In order to receive a grant, the sub-borrower has to explicitly apply for it.

Grant Verification Process

Grant verification process is done by the FC upon submission of completed Verification Request in the VMS.

Each Verification Request is subject to either on-site or desk-based verification.

Sub-projects which do not comply with GEFF eligibility criteria will not be eligible for grants.
In addition, the following list of situations that also lead to grant rejection:

• the sub-borrower has provided untrue information, including false documents, declarations and representations;
• the sub-borrower is not able to provide proper evidences of successful completion of project at the declared dwelling;
• the sub-borrower did not install the technologies listed in the documentary evidence submitted with the Verification Request at the declared dwelling;
• the sub-borrower during or as the result of the project has violated building norms and/or safety rules;
• the sub-borrower has used the loan to refinance another debt;
• the sub-borrower has not granted the FC access to the dwelling in case her / his request has been selected for on-site verification;
• sub-project is related to the purchase of domestic appliances and other sub-project components not eligible for investment incentives (grants);
• the sub-borrower invested in a renewable energy sub-project that can benefit from a national or international support mechanism (including feed-in tariffs or grants from the city, municpality etc.);
• the sub-loan is prepaid prior to verification of the sub-project;
• additional disbursement on the sub-loan was reported after the notification of completion and the confirmation of the sub-loan amount by the PFI prior to verification;
• the FC cannot or does not confirm the successful implementation or completion of a sub-project.

Grant Calculation Process

The calculation of the grant amount comprises of 2 steps:

Step 1: calculation of the verified eligible investment costs based on the documentary evidence and/or an on-site visit;

Step 2: calculation of the grant amount based on the verified eligible investment costs and the applicable grant percentage.

The result of the grant calculation process is the EUR equivalent of the grant to be paid to the sub-borrower for successful completion of sub-project.

Grant Payout Process

Grants are paid to the sub-borrower’s account at the PFI where GEFF loan was originated. The sub-borrower is responsible for ensuring an account for grant disbursement.

Grant payouts occur once a month. Grants approved by FC as of the end of each month will be included in the payout.

Grant Appeal Process

Grant appeal process can be initiated by the sub-borrower in case of disagreement with either the amount of approved grant or the rejection of a grant decided by the FC.

Grant appeal should be directed at the Partner Financial Institution where the sub-borrower applied for a sub-loan.

The sub-borrower can also appeal to the FC. Grant appeal option is available for sub-borrower within 10 calendar days from the day the decision of FC is communicated to the sub-borrower. Within this period the sub-borrower can send an electronic message stating her / his objection to the decision and providing brief narrative explanation why s/he does not agree with the decision. The sub-borrower can also provide any calculations and/or documents s/he deems appropriate to support the objection.

The following email addresses are to be used:

Kosovo – xk@ebrdgeff.com
Bosnia and Herzegovina – bih@ebrdgeff.com
Albania – albania@ebrdgeff.com
Serbia – serbia@ebrdgeff.com
North Macedonia – mk@ebrdgeff.com
Montenegro – mne@ebrdgeff.com

FC reviews the appeal from the sub-borrower within 15 business days and produces a written response to the sub-borrower.

In case the sub-borrower is not satisfied with the result of the FC’s review, s/he can send the appeal within 30 days to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD):

Belinda Sykes
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
United Kingdom
Email: sykesb@ebrd.com

Appeals can be submitted in the following languages: Local language or English.

Confidentiality and Privacy Policy

All information received by the Facility Consultant from Participating Financial Institutions and from individual sub-borrowers will be treated with all necessary caution to ensure confidential storage and processing not to allow unauthorized access to personal, financial, and other sensitive data.

Following the provisions of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) information is provided which personal data the Facility Consultant may gather and for which purpose it may be processed during the visit and use of VMS.

The following Personal Data is collected when using VMS:

• Contact data
  ID number, name and surname, Personal Identification Number, contact phone number, contact email, residence address (country, city and street nr), account number, address where project was implemented and other information that may be part of mentioned documents relating to the purpose of the investment.
• Project data
  Invoices, technical documentation of the purchased product, photographs of the implemented project, as well as business reports all containing information about personal and financial data, as well as data relating to purchased products.
• Financial data
  Financial data refers to signed sub-loan amount, sub-loan signing date, sub loan disbursement date, sub loan disbursed, total investment costs and internal sub loan ID.
• All other documents, information and data that may be reasonably requested.

Personal Data is used for the purpose of processing the application for a grant payment and in the event of follow-up questions, we process the personal data obtained for this purpose for the fulfilment of contractual obligations, or more specifically on the basis of legitimate interests.

Personal Data collected through the use of VMS will not be shared with third parties, except the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and/or unless it is required for the fulfilment of processing the application for grant payment, and/or required by the Green Economy Finance Facility and/or required to comply with mandatory laws/authority requests.

Personal Data is stored for as long as needed for the fulfilment of the abovementioned purposes and legal obligations.

The sub-borrower has the right to access the personal data concerning him/her that is being processed. Additionally, the sub-borrower has the right to rectification of inaccurate data and to erase data (“right to be forgotten”) if appropriate. Further, the sub-borrower can withdraw consent declarations at any time without stating a reason in order to hinder further processing of personal data that has been collected and used based on a consent declaration. The sub-borrower can furthermore be entitled to the right to restriction of processing of personal data as well as the right to receive the personal data concerning him/her in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (“data portability”).

Apart from that the sub-borrower has the right to lodge a complaint with the responsible supervisory authority.

General Provisions and Liability

The sub-borrower acknowledges that he/she does not have any legal claim to receiving grant payment(s). The usage of VMS does not constitute a contract between the sub-borrower and EBRD, the FC or any other third party.

The sub-borrower does not have any legal claim to access, usage and/or functionality of VMS. Access to and use of VMS may be impaired by unforeseeable and/or exceptional circumstances or technical maintenance and may be refused or terminated at any time without reason. The sub-borrower must respect and comply with the applicable laws when using VMS. The sub-borrower acknowledges that misuse of VMS may have legal consequences and may be prosecuted.

EBRD or the FC shall not be liable for the functionality of VMS and/or for the completeness and accuracy of data made available by the applicant on VMS. EBRD or the FC shall not be liable for any disadvantages and/or damages incurred by the sub-borrower as a result of incorrect, incomplete, erroneously or belatedly (uploaded) data or documents.