Central Bank of Tunisia Circular No. 2019-07 of October 14, 2019

Tunis, October 14, 2019

CIRCULAR OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF TUNISIA NO. 2019-07 Subject: Exercise of the manual foreign exchange activity by natural persons through the opening of exchange offices.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia; Pursuant to Organic Law No. 2015-26 of August 7, 2015, on the fight against terrorism and the repression of money laundering, as amended by Organic Law No. 2019-9 of January 23, 2019; Pursuant to the Foreign Exchange and External Trade Code promulgated by Law No. 76-18 of January 12, 1976, consolidating and codifying the legislation governing foreign exchange and external trade relations between Tunisia and foreign countries, as amended by subsequent texts, notably Decree-Law No. 2011-98 of October 24, 2011; Pursuant to Law No. 2014-54 of August 19, 2014, supplementary finance law for the year 2014, notably Article 54; Pursuant to Law No. 2016-35 of April 25, 2016, fixing the status of the Central Bank of Tunisia; Pursuant to Decree No. 77-608 of July 27, 1977, fixing the implementation conditions of Law No. 76-18 above, as amended by subsequent texts, notably Government Decree No. 2017-393 of March 28, 2017; Pursuant to Decree No. 2001-1142 of May 22, 2001, fixing the regime for mission expenses abroad applicable to State personnel, local authorities, administrative public establishments, public establishments and companies, and the procedures for covering related expenses as well as granting benefits, as amended by Decree No. 2005-1733 of June 13, 2005; Pursuant to Government Decree No. 2017-1366 of December 25, 2017, fixing the minimum amount of the bank guarantee required for exercising manual foreign exchange activity through the creation of an exchange office and the eligibility conditions, as amended by Government Decree No. 2018-593 of July 17, 2018; Pursuant to Circular to Approved Intermediaries No. 94-13 of September 7, 1994, on the import, transfer, reconversion and re-export of foreign currency by travelers, as amended by Circular No. 2017-10 of November 30, 2017; Pursuant to Circular to Approved Intermediaries No. 2007-04 of February 9, 2007, on tourist allowance; Pursuant to Circular to Approved Intermediaries No. 2016-10 of December 30, 2016, on the authorization to export foreign currency in banknotes and by checks; Pursuant to Circular of the Central Bank of Tunisia No. 2018-07 of July 30, 2018, on the exercise of manual foreign exchange activity by natural persons through the opening of exchange offices; Pursuant to Opinion No. 2017-07 of the Compliance Control Committee dated October 2, 2019, as provided for in Article 42 of Law No. 2016-35 of April 25, 2016 fixing the status of the Central Bank of Tunisia, Decides:

Article 1: The provisions of the sixth dash of Article 1, the third paragraph of Article 2, Article 3, the second and fourth paragraphs of Article 6, Articles 7 and 8, the second paragraph of Article 9, the first paragraph of Article 10, and Article 11 of Circular No. 2018-07 of July 30, 2018, cited above, are repealed and replaced as follows:

• "Article 1 - sixth dash (new):
• a lease contract or title of ownership for the premises, a management lease contract for a commercial business, or an occupation contract for premises under the temporary public domain regime, intended for the exercise of manual foreign exchange activity; the premises reserved for the exchange office must be visible, identifiable by the public, and located in an easily accessible site far from structures and equipment that may present a source of risks."
• "Article 2 - third paragraph (new): The natural person who has obtained authorization must, within a period not exceeding three months from the date of notification of the authorization, commence the effective exercise of their activity and submit to the Central Bank of Tunisia, by any means leaving a written record, within a maximum period of 3 working days from the start date of activity, a declaration prepared according to the model in Annex No. 3 to this circular. The aforementioned three-month period may be extended once for the same duration, upon request by the authorization holder."
• "Article 3 (new): The authorization to exercise manual foreign exchange activity by opening an exchange office is personal and non-transferable. Manual foreign exchange activity may be exercised by the same natural person in one or more exchange offices, provided that a specific authorization is obtained for exercising this activity in each exchange office. Any new authorization application submitted by a natural person already exercising manual foreign exchange activity within an exchange office must be accompanied by the documents required by the fourth and sixth dashes of Article 1 of this circular. Transferring the activity from one premises to another is possible subject to obtaining prior authorization from the Central Bank of Tunisia for this purpose."
• "Article 6 - second paragraph (new): Any foreign currency purchase transaction must result in the issuance of a foreign exchange slip, prepared in accordance with the model provided by Annex No. 4 to this circular, and this applies in all cases where such a slip is required under Circular No. 94-13 cited above."
• "Article 6 - fourth paragraph (new): When required, pursuant to the Minister of Finance Order of March 1, 2016, fixing the amounts provided by Law No. 2015-26 above, as amended by the Minister of Finance Order of July 24, 2019, that a customs-verified foreign currency cash import declaration be submitted for the realization of a foreign currency purchase, the authorized natural person exercising manual foreign exchange by opening an exchange office must carry out the purchase upon presentation of a copy of said declaration accompanied by the original. After affixing their stamp and visa and indicating the purchased foreign currency amount and transaction date on both documents, said person returns the original to its holder."
• "Article 7 (new): The authorized natural person exercising manual foreign exchange activity must:
• indicate their name and the identification code of the exchange office where the activity is exercised, and affix their signature and stamp in the reserved space for the approved intermediary on all documents provided by the circulars cited in Articles 5 and 6 of this circular;
• notify the public of their activity by means of a facade sign bearing the expression "exchange office" in Arabic, French, and English;
• indicate, by means of electronic display boards, the dinar rates applied to foreign currency purchase and sale operations, and prominently display the authorization to exercise manual foreign exchange activity;
• comply with the due diligence and customer identification obligations provided by current regulations;
• keep in accessible files for control purposes a copy of all documents required for manual foreign exchange operations for a minimum period of 10 years;
• ensure that the agents designated by them, under their responsibility, as collaborators in exercising their activity receive the necessary training in foreign exchange operations provided by this circular;
• implement the necessary security system to protect persons and the premises reserved for their activity, as well as the equipment installed therein;
• install the necessary software to ensure the recording and traceability of all operations they process;
• install the necessary software to ensure the recording and traceability of all operations they process; when manual foreign exchange activity is exercised by the same natural person in multiple exchange offices, pursuant to Article 3 (new) of this circular, the aforementioned software must have technical characteristics enabling the authorization holder to have real-time access to the position of the total foreign currency cash holdings across all their exchange offices;
• equip their office with banknote counting and counterfeit detection devices."
• "Article 8 (new): The authorized natural person exercising manual foreign exchange by opening an exchange office may keep in the cash registers of each exchange office only a foreign currency banknote holding within the limit of their activity's needs. In all cases, this holding may not exceed, per office, the equivalent of two hundred thousand dinars (200,000 dinars) across all currencies combined. Any amount exceeding the ceiling indicated in the first paragraph of this article must be sold for dinars or deposited into the "exchange office account" referred to in Article 9 of this circular, no later than the first banking working day following the date of its recording. The determination of the dinar amount of the foreign currency banknote holding referred to in the first paragraph of this article is made based on the rate of the last transaction applied by the exchange office for purchase or sale."
• "Article 9 - second paragraph (new): The authorized natural person exercising manual foreign exchange through one or more exchange offices may open only one "exchange office account" per currency and may open "exchange office accounts" only with a single approved intermediary."
• "Article 10 - first paragraph (new): The "exchange office account" is freely credited by the deposit of foreign currency banknotes purchased by the exchange office or offices of the same natural person holding the account, as well as by the interest generated by the funds stored in these accounts, calculated under the conditions provided by current regulations."
• "Article 11 (new): The authorized natural person must submit to the Central Bank of Tunisia via the Data Exchange System (SED), no later than the 10th day of the following month, records relating to foreign currency purchase and sale operations carried out by their office during the month, as well as the foreign currency cash holdings amounts as of the last day of the month. When manual foreign exchange activity is exercised by the same natural person in multiple exchange offices, pursuant to Article 3 (new) of this circular, the aforementioned records must be submitted to the Central Bank of Tunisia for each office separately. Approved Intermediaries are required to submit monthly to the Central Bank of Tunisia via the SED, no later than the 10th day of the following month, records relating to statements of exchange office accounts opened on their books during the month. The declarations of the aforementioned records must be submitted to the Central Bank of Tunisia in accordance with the technical guide available for free download via the SED."

Article 2: Annex No. 1 to Circular No. 2018-07 cited above is replaced by the annex attached to this circular.

THE GOVERNOR Marouane EL ABASSI

Annex No. 1 to the Circular of the Central Bank of Tunisia No. 2018-07, amended by Circular No. 2019-07 of October 14, 2019 Model for the authorization application for opening an exchange office Location site: ... Governorate: ... Delegation: ... Coordinates: Full Address: ... Postal Code: ... Telephone: ... Fax: ... e-mail: ... Website (if applicable): ... Identity of the applicant and collaborating agents: TITLE NAME FIRSTNAME ID NO. FULL ADDRESS APPLICANT: Collaborating agents: Date: ………, on ……………. Legalized signature of the applicant