Public health institutions may only enter into financial contracts when they are linked to a loan. The following financial contracts are authorised:
– interest rate options;
– interest rate swaps;
– forward rate agreements.
These financial contracts may have a fixed or variable interest rate. The authorised variable-rate financial contracts are:
– those whose interest rate varies in application of an indexation clause relating to a standard rate on the interbank market, the eurozone money market or the French government securities market;
– those whose interest rate varies in application of an indexation clause relating to the general price level index or the harmonised consumer price index for the eurozone, as defined inarticle D. 112-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code.
Public health institutions may not enter into financial contracts where the variable interest rate paid may, during the life of the contract, become more than double the nominal interest rate applied during the first period. This provision does not apply, on the one hand, when the variable interest rate paid is defined as the simple addition of the usual reference rate defined in the sixth paragraph of this article and a fixed margin expressed in percentage points and, on the other hand, when the interest rate is revised according to one of the indices defined in the seventh paragraph.