Central Bank of Tunisia Circular No. 2017-04 to Approved Intermediaries dated June 23, 2017

Tunis, June 23, 2017

Circular to Approved Intermediaries No. 2017-04 SUBJECT: Resident Natural Person Accounts (P.P.R.) in foreign currency or convertible dinar.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia;
Having regard to the Foreign Exchange and External Trade Code promulgated by Law No. 76-18 of January 12, 1976, governing the relations between Tunisia and foreign countries, as amended by subsequent texts and notably Law No. 93-48 of May 3, 1993; Having regard to Law No. 2016-35 of April 25, 2016 establishing the Statutes of the Central Bank of Tunisia; Having regard to Decree No. 77-608 of July 17, 1977 setting the application conditions for the Foreign Exchange and External Trade Code as amended by subsequent texts and notably Decree No. 2017-393 of March 28, 2017; Having regard to Circular No. 87-37 of September 24, 1987 regarding special accounts in foreign currency and convertible dinar; Having regard to Circular No. 97-01 of February 14, 1997 regarding information forms; Having regard to Circular No. 2003-05 of March 27, 2003 regarding sub-delegatees of exchange accounts in convertible dinar; Having regard to Circular No. 2006-14 of November 9, 2006 regarding service provider accounts in foreign currency and convertible dinar; Having regard to Circular No. 2007-19 of July 9, 2007 regarding special accounts "Law 2007-41" in foreign currency or convertible dinar; Having regard to Circular No. 2009-15 of July 24, 2009 regarding special export profit accounts in foreign currency or convertible dinar; Having regard to Circular No. 2016-20 of December 30, 2016 regarding authorization for exporting foreign currency in banknotes and by checks; Having regard to Opinion No. 04-2017 of the Control and Compliance Committee dated June 22, 2017 as provided by Article 41 of Law No. 2016-35 of April 25, 2016 establishing the Statutes of the Central Bank of Tunisia. Decides:

Article 1: This circular aims to set the conditions for opening and operating Resident Natural Person (P.P.R.) accounts in foreign currency or convertible dinar.

Paragraph 1: Beneficiaries of the P.P.R. account in foreign currency or convertible dinar.
Article 2: Approved Intermediaries are authorized to open a single P.P.R. account in foreign currency or convertible dinar upon presentation of the supporting documents listed in Annex No. 2 to this circular, for the following resident natural persons:

• Tunisians transferring their habitual residence from abroad to Tunisia and/or having assets acquired regularly abroad;
• Foreign residents in Tunisia;
• Persons holding shares in resident corporate entities exporting goods or services;
• Persons with the status of foreign exchange sub-delegatees or holding shares in resident corporate entities with such status;
• Service providers supplying services to non-residents established outside Tunisia, as defined in Annex No. 1;
• Diplomats and public sector agents seconded abroad;
• Persons engaged by resident employers for missions of at least 6 months, under contracts executable abroad.

Article 3: A single person cannot simultaneously hold a P.P.R. account in foreign currency or convertible dinar and receive a business travel allowance.
Article 4: The Approved Intermediary must require the concerned person, to support their application for opening a P.P.R. account in foreign currency or convertible dinar, to submit a sworn declaration certifying that they do not receive a business travel allowance and do not hold any other P.P.R. account opened on the books of another Approved Intermediary.

Paragraph 2: Operation of the P.P.R. account in foreign currency or convertible dinar.
A- Credit Operations:
Article 5: P.P.R. accounts in foreign currency or convertible dinar may be freely credited based on the documents cited in Annex No. 1, from:

• Income or profits from assets acquired regularly abroad or funds originating from the closure of a foreign currency or convertible dinar account abroad held by the account holder;
• Twenty percent (20%) of distributed profits for the previous fiscal year paid in dinar to persons holding shares in resident corporate entities exporting goods or services; account funding is made pro rata to the holder's shareholding in said company;
• Five percent (5%) of foreign currency ceded for the previous year under the sub-delegation of exchange activity exercised by the account holder or a company in which they hold shares; in this case, account funding is made pro rata to the holder's shareholding;
• Remuneration of service providers for services rendered to non-residents established outside Tunisia;
• Salary savings of diplomats and public sector agents seconded abroad;
• Dinar remuneration paid to persons engaged by resident employers, under contracts executable abroad, as an expatriation allowance;
• Amounts originating from the proceeds of asset sales and/or income from assets acquired abroad debited to this account;
• Interest generated by funds deposited in the P.P.R. account, calculated under prevailing regulations.
  Any other credit operation to the account is subject to prior authorization by the Central Bank of Tunisia.
  When the amounts specified in the second, third and sixth indents of this article are to be credited to a foreign currency P.P.R. account, the Approved Intermediary acquires on the exchange market the necessary foreign currency to credit the account.

Article 6: Credit of the P.P.R. account via deposit of foreign banknotes is made upon presentation of a valid foreign exchange import declaration issued in the account holder's name and stamped by Customs.
Article 7: Upon crediting amounts under Article 5 of this circular, the Approved Intermediary must stamp the original supporting document (per Annex No. 2), indicating the amount credited, retain a copy of the stamped document, and return the original to its holder.

B- Debit Operations:
Article 8: P.P.R. accounts in foreign currency or convertible dinar may be freely debited for:

• Cession of foreign exchange on the market and any payment in dinar;
• Any payment abroad for justified personal expenses of the account holder, their spouse, and first-degree resident descendants or ascendants;
• Any transfer for the account holder to acquire movable and immovable property abroad, rights and claims against foreign entities, or to manage assets held regularly abroad. However, the account holder may in no case hold funds in foreign bank accounts;
• Any transfer to settle all accounts upon permanent departure of a foreign account holder, justified by a residence change certificate issued by competent authorities and accompanied by a tax regularization or exemption certificate.
  Any other debit operation to the account is subject to prior authorization by the Central Bank of Tunisia.

Article 9: Debit transfers from the P.P.R. account may occur via wire transfer, check drawn on the Approved Intermediary where the account is held, international payment card, or cash exclusively for stay expenses.
Article 10: The Approved Intermediary on whose books the account is held must ensure that the account is never overdrawn, regardless of the payment method.

Paragraph 3: Information to the Central Bank of Tunisia
Article 11: Any payment abroad must result in the completion of an information form, per Circular to Approved Intermediaries No. 97-01 of February 14, 2997 regarding information forms.
Article 12: Approved Intermediaries will submit to the Central Bank of Tunisia by the end of each quarter, and no later than the 15th of the following month, via the SED system (file name: ETATPPR, file format: .xls) a statement of P.P.R. accounts opened on their books, per the model provided in Annex No. 3.
Article 13: The Approved Intermediary on whose books the P.P.R. account is held must retain, available to the Central Bank of Tunisia in accessible files for control purposes, all supporting documents required at account opening and justifying any credit or debit operation.

Paragraph 4: Final and Transitional Provisions
Article 14: P.P.R. account holders are subject to the obligations incumbent upon residents, under foreign exchange and external trade regulations, notably the obligation to declare assets abroad as provided by the Foreign Exchange Code.

Article 15: Approved Intermediaries must, no later than December 31, 2017, convert accounts opened on their books for natural persons under the following circulars into P.P.R. accounts:

• Circular No. 87-37 of September 24, 1987 regarding special accounts in foreign currency and convertible dinar;
• Circular No. 2003-05 of March 27, 2003 regarding sub-delegatees of exchange accounts in convertible dinar;
• Circular No. 2006-14 of November 9, 2006 regarding service provider accounts in foreign currency and convertible dinar;
• Circular No. 2007-19 of July 9, 2007 regarding special accounts "Law 2007-41" in foreign currency or convertible dinar;
• Circular No. 2009-15 of July 24, 2009 regarding special export profit accounts in foreign currency or convertible dinar.
  Upon expiration of this deadline, said circulars are repealed except for provisions regarding the opening and operation of special accounts for resident corporate entities, as provided by Circular No. 87-37 and Circular No. 2007-19.

Article 16: Approved Intermediaries may, upon the account holder's request, freely convert accounts opened in convertible dinar for natural persons under the circulars cited in Article 25 of this circular, into foreign currency P.P.R. accounts.
To this end, the Approved Intermediary will purchase on the exchange market the foreign currency equivalent of the convertible dinar account balance.

THE GOVERNOR
CHEDLY AYARI

Annex 1: Documents to provide upon opening a Resident Natural Person (P.P.R.) account in foreign currency or convertible dinar

• Copy of national identity card for Tunisian nationals;
• Copy of valid residence permit for foreign nationals;
• Sworn declaration as specified in Article 4 of this circular.
• Tunisians transferring their habitual residence from abroad to Tunisia:
  • Full copy of passport;
• Tunisians with assets acquired regularly abroad:
  • Copy of asset declaration as provided by Article 26 of the Foreign Exchange Code, issued within a maximum of 6 months from the date of asset acquisition. The declaration must indicate the nature of assets, country of location, and estimated value. It may be submitted on plain paper to an Approved Intermediary.
• Partners or shareholders in exporting corporate entities:
  • Any document justifying the holder's shareholding (subscription and capitalization certificate, updated and registered copy of statutes...);
• Foreign exchange sub-delegatees:
  • Letter of approval as a foreign exchange sub-delegatee issued by an Approved Intermediary;
• Partners or shareholders in corporate entities that are foreign exchange sub-delegatees:
  • Letter of approval as a foreign exchange sub-delegatee issued by an Approved Intermediary;
  • Any document justifying the interested party's shareholding in the approved corporate entity (subscription and capitalization certificate, updated and registered copy of statutes...);
• Service providers:
  • Existence declaration, employment certificate, professional order registration certificate, contract...;
• Diplomats or public sector agents seconded abroad:
  • Secondment decision;
• Persons engaged by resident employers for missions under contracts executable abroad:
  • Contract between the interested party and their employer specifying mission duration, dinar amount of expatriation allowance, country of establishment, and references to the executable foreign contract;
  • Copy of the domiciliation certificate for the executable foreign contract, issued by an Approved Intermediary.

*Note: Service providers include members of liberal professions (accountants, lawyers, doctors, consulting engineers, architects), public sector agents not in secondment and private sector employees performing technical assistance missions for non-residents outside Tunisia, and consultants/advisors providing services to non-residents abroad while maintaining Tunisian residence.

Annex 2: Supporting documents for credit operations to the P.P.R. account*
Category of income and rights to be credited to P.P.R. | Supporting documents required by the Approved Intermediary (IA)

• Income/profits from assets acquired regularly abroad (2nd indent, Art. 5): Any document justifying the origin of funds used to establish assets and/or resulting income.
• Rights on export profits: A tax authority-stamped certificate specifying the amount of profits from goods/services exports by resident corporate entities during the previous year, distributed to the holder as a partner or shareholder.
• Rights on foreign currency ceded by sub-delegatees (3rd indent, Art. 5): - A certificate issued by the Approved Intermediary granting sub-delegation of exchange, indicating the dinar equivalent of foreign currency ceded by the sub-delegatee for the previous year. - List of shareholders/partners duly stamped by the legal representative, indicating names and shareholding percentage as of December 31 of the previous year.
• Remuneration for services to non-residents abroad (4th indent, Art. 5): - Any document justifying the payment purpose (contracts, invoices, fee notes...) issued exclusively in the account holder's name. - Annual personal income tax declaration duly stamped by tax authorities, to be submitted annually no later than July 15; otherwise, the IA must suspend all transfers from this account.
• Amounts for salary savings of diplomats/public agents (5th indent, Art. 5): Any document justifying the origin of funds.
• Remuneration for expatriation allowances in dinar (6th indent, Art. 5): - Any document from the employer specifying the expatriation allowance amount; Copy of the domiciliation certificate for the executable foreign contract, issued by an Approved Intermediary if required.

*Per Article 6, the IA must require a customs declaration for all deposits of foreign banknotes.

Annex 3: Quarterly Declaration of P.P.R. Account Balances
Month: 1 to 12 | Year: N | IA: IA code
No. (1) | ID Type (2) | Holder Name (3) | Currency Account Code (5) | Total Balance (6) | Total Debit (7) | Total Credit (8) (1): Indicate ID card number for Tunisians or residence permit for foreigners (8 positions). (2): Indicate C for ID card or S for residence permit. (3): Indicate surname then first name of the holder. (4): Indicate account number (20 positions). (5): Indicate currency code of the account in 3 positions per BCT currency code directory. (6): Indicate end-of-quarter balance. (7): Indicate total operations credited to the account. (8): Indicate total operations debited from the account.