Note 47 Contingent assets and liabilities

Pursuant to Section 403 Book 2, of the Netherlands Civil Code, Alliander has assumed liability for the obligations arising from the legal acts of several of the subsidiaries listed in the Notes to the company financial statements. Alliander, together with its Dutch subsidiaries, forms a tax group for both corporate income tax and value added tax (VAT). Consequently, every legal entity forming part of the tax group bears joint and several liability for the tax liabilities of the legal entities included in the tax group. Alliander has also given a declaration of indemnity to its network operator under which its liability in this respect is restricted to the amount for which it itself would be liable if a tax group did not exist.

As at year-end 2016, Alliander had issued parent company guarantees amounting to €59 million (2015: €50 million). Bank guarantees amounting to €1 million had been issued on Alliander's behalf as at year-end 2016 (2015: €0.1 million).

Operating leases

The following table presents the future minimum operating lease payment obligations. Alliander has operating lease payables, mainly relating to buildings and company cars.

Capital expenditure commitments

The following table presents the existing capital expenditure commitments and other purchase commitments as at year-end.