Notice No. 13/2014 of 18 December on Current Invisible Operations

Published in the Official Gazette, First Series, No. 223, of December 24

NOTICE No. 13/2014

SUBJECT: CURRENT INVISIBLE OPERATIONS

• Transfers abroad of profits or dividends of external private investors

The Private Investment Law currently in force in Angola, Law No. 20/11 of May 20, guarantees external investors the right to transfer abroad the profits, dividends, and other benefits arising from investments made in the country, provided certain legal and regulatory conditions are met, including those of a foreign exchange nature;

Given the need to simplify procedures regarding the transfer of profits or dividends and within the framework of the continuous improvement of the business environment in the country;

In these terms and under the combined provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 28 of Law No. 5/97 of June 27, Foreign Exchange Law, and Article 40 of Law No. 16/10 of July 15, Law of the Bank of Angola;

I DETERMINE:

Article 1. (Object and Scope)

1. This Notice establishes the procedures that must be complied with in the transfers abroad of any profits or dividends to which external investors are entitled, under the terms of Law No. 20/11 of May 20, Private Investment Law.
2. This Notice is not applicable to entities whose transfer of profits or dividends abroad is established in special legislation.

Article 2. (Authorization) The transfer of profits or dividends subject to this Notice only requires prior authorization from the Bank of Angola in cases where the total annual value per ordering entity (entity generating the profits) exceeds the amount equivalent to Kz 500,000,000.00 (five hundred million kwanzas);

Article 3. (Required Documents for Transfer)

1. The ordering entity must submit to banking financial institutions the following documents together with the request for transfer of profits or dividends: a) Copy of the Certificate of Registration of Private Investment (CRIP) issued by the competent government entity; b) Financial statements audited by an independent entity (balance sheet, income statement, respective notes to the accounts, and external auditor's report).
2. In the case of the first request for transfer of profits or dividends, the ordering entity must also present the document issued by the national entity responsible for authorizing the investment, confirming the implementation of the project.
3. The Bank of Angola or banking financial institutions may, whenever necessary for the purpose of evaluating the request, request additional information.

Article 4. (Responsibility of Financial Institutions)

1. For all transfers of profits or dividends, banking financial institutions must ensure as a prior condition to their execution or to the sending of the file to the Bank of Angola, as the case may be, the full compliance with the following conditions: a) Compliance with customer identification and due diligence procedures and their business in accordance with current legislation; b) That they are in possession of all documents referred to in Article 3 of this Notice, confirming their validity and authenticity; c) Full compliance with tax obligations; d) The non-existence of irregular debts of the ordering entity, registered in the Credit Risk Information Center (CIRC); e) That the registration of the investment made in the company's accounts is as established in the CRIP.
2. In cases where prior transfer authorization is requested and, in the opinion of the banking financial institution, the conditions for execution are met, it must forward the documents referred to in Article 3 to the Foreign Exchange Control Department of the Bank of Angola with a recommendation for authorization.
3. Situations identified by banking financial institutions as fraudulent must be promptly reported to the Bank of Angola.
4. Banking financial institutions must, within 48 hours after the execution of profit or dividend transfers, proceed to register them in the systems made available by the Bank of Angola for this purpose.

Article 5. (Archiving of Files) Banking financial institutions must maintain an organized archive of profit or dividend transfer operations, constituting individual files for each ordering entity, where, for each operation, the documents indicated in Articles 3 and 4 of this Notice must be included.

Article 6. (Evaluation of Files by the BNA)

1. The decision regarding the request for transfer of profits or dividends subject to prior approval by the Bank of Angola is communicated by electronic means to the intermediary banking financial institution within a period of up to 10 (ten) business days.
2. After the period mentioned in the previous paragraph has elapsed and without having received any additional request for information from the Bank of Angola, the intermediary banking financial institution may execute the transfers whose files it has forwarded to the Bank of Angola with a recommendation for execution, ensuring, however, strict compliance with the provisions of Articles 3 and 4 of this Notice.

Article 7. (Sanctions) Without prejudice to other sanctions provided for in current legislation, violations of this Notice are subject to sanctions, under the terms of Law No. 5/97, of June 27, including the suspension of carrying out any new foreign exchange operations by the parties involved until it is proven that the detected deficiencies have been overcome.

Article 8. (Transitional Provision) While it is not possible for banking financial institutions to obtain, directly from electronic systems, data regarding the compliance with tax obligations of taxpayers, they must request from the ordering entity the presentation of a declaration confirming the full compliance of its tax obligations, issued by the competent entity, with an issue date less than 60 days relative to the date of delivery of the transfer request.

Article 9. (Doubts and Omissions) Doubts and omissions arising in the interpretation and application of this Notice are resolved by the Bank of Angola.

Article 10. (Revocation) Notice No. 04/03 of February 7 is hereby revoked.

Article 11. (Entry into Force) This Notice enters into force on the date of its publication.

PUBLISH. Luanda, December 18, 2014.

THE GOVERNOR

JOSÉ DE LIMA MASSANO