Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges
The Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) is a European special-purpose vehicle (SPV) established in January 2019. Its mission is to facilitate non-USD and non-SWIFT[1][2] transactions with Iran to avoid breaking U.S. sanctions.[3]
Société par actions simplifiée | |
Industry | Clearing house |
Founded | January 31, 2019 |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Per Fischer (managing director) Sir Simon McDonald (chairman of the supervisory board) Miguel Berger (member of the supervisory board) Maurice Gourdault-Montagne (member of the supervisory board) |
Owner |
Five EU nations declared in a joint statement on November 29 2019 will join the INSTEX mechanism for trade with Iran, these countries are Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland and Sweden.[4]
HQ
The SPV is headquartered in Paris and is headed by Per Fischer, who formerly served as Head of Financial Institutions at Commerzbank, between 2003 and 2014.[5]
Purpose
As of May 2019, the use of the SPV is limited to humanitarian purposes; such as the purchase of otherwise embargoed foods or medicines.[6] INSTEX had been made available to all EU Member States. On 11 February 2019, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov stated that Russia would be interested in participating in INSTEX.[7]
Operations
On June 28, 2019, the EU released a statement stating that INSTEX had been made operational.[8] Federica Mogherini stated that the purpose of Instex is to facilitate "legitimate trade" with Iran for any EU member and has been conceived to be open to non-EU countries.[9]
In Iran, INSTEX is mirrored by the STFI (Special Trade and Finance Instrument), a similar SPV. STFI matches incoming and outgoing transactions in the same way. In effect, two Iranian entities pay each other, thus, no money cross the Iranian border.[10]
As of January 2020, the mechanism remained unused and "irrelevant to EU-Iranian trade".[11][12]
On the 31st of March 2020, the first INSTEX transaction was concluded. It covered an import of medical equipment to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran.[13][14]
References
- "European powers launch mechanism for trade with Iran". Reuters. 31 January 2019.
- Annalisa Girardi. 9,310 viewsApr 9, 2019, 08:21am INSTEX, A New Channel To Bypass U.S. Sanctions And Trade With Iran. Forbes. 9 April 2019.
- Forbes Magazine Europe Circumvents U.S. Sanctions On Iran
- Didili, Zoi (3 December 2019). "Six European nations join INSTEX mechanism for trade with Iran". New Europe. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
- "INSTEX: Europe sets up transactions channel with Iran". Deutsche Welle. 31 January 2019.
- Forbes Magazine INSTEX, A New Channel To Bypass U.S. Sanctions And Trade With Iran
- "Рябков: РФ будет добиваться участия в механизме внешнеторговых расчетов INSTEX с Ираном". ТАСС. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- Foundation, Thomson Reuters. "Europe says Iran trade channel operational -statement". news.trust.org. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- Remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini following the Foreign Affairs Council. Bruxelles, 15/07/2019 - 19:29, UNIQUE ID: 190715_18. eeas.europa.eu.
- "EU nations launch mechanism to trade with Iran - Euronews Answers". Euronews. 31 January 2019.
- "EU-Iran Instex trade channel remains pipe dream". DW. 31 January 2020.
- Brzozowski, Alexandra (14 January 2020). "INSTEX fails to support EU-Iran trade as nuclear accord falters". Euractiv. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/instex-successfully-concludes-first-transaction
- "European countries to send medical aid to Iran in first INSTEX transaction". AMN. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.