Circular No. 3,255 — Issuance and Settlement of Collection Slips, Creation of VLB-Cobrança, and Complementary Measures

Circular No. 3,255, of August 31, 2004 1

CIRCULAR NO. 3,255

Provides for the issuance and settlement of collection slips, creates the VLB-Cobrança, defines this value, and establishes complementary measures.

The Collegiate Board of the Central Bank of Brazil, in a session held on August 24, 2004, based on art. 11, item VI, of Law 4,595, of December 31, 1964, art. 10 of Law 10,214, of March 27, 2001, and arts. 10 and 11 of Resolution 2,882, of August 30, 2001,

D E C I D E D:

Art. 1. Establish that the collection slip (bloqueto de cobrança) must be used for the purpose of registering debts in collection at financial institutions, related to sales or service provision operations, including those concerning negotiable instruments in collection, such as bills of exchange, promissory notes, insurance slips, or insurance notes, in order to allow the payment of the object debt at a financial institution distinct from the collecting institution.

§ 1. The collection slip must be issued in accordance with the model referred to in Cadoc 24044-4.

§ 2. For the purposes of this circular, the parties to a collection slip are:

I - favored party: the creditor of the object debt, to whom the funds received upon its payment must be directed;

II - drawee: the person from whom the object debt is collected;

III - receiving financial institution: the financial institution that receives from the drawee, or from someone acting on his behalf, the payment of the object debt;

IV - collecting financial institution:

a) financial institution contracted by the seller or service provider to receive, in the capacity of agent for collection, directly or through another financial institution, the amount due to it by the drawee; or

b) financial institution that is the assignee of the credit, if it has been assigned to it by the seller or service provider.

§ 3. If it is the assignee, the collecting financial institution is simultaneously the favored party.

§ 4. If payment is made directly to it, the collecting financial institution is simultaneously the receiving financial institution.

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Art. 2. The following provisions apply to the parties to a collection slip:

I - the favored party and the drawee may be natural or legal persons;

II - only commercial banks, multiple banks with commercial portfolios, and Caixa Econômica Federal may act as receiving financial institution and collecting financial institution.

Sole paragraph. Credit cooperatives may also provide services related to collection slips, within the scope of agreements entered into with the institutions referred to in item II.

Art. 3. The rights and obligations related to the collection slip are governed, insofar as applicable:

I - in the relationships between the seller or service provider and the drawee and the collecting financial institution, by contracts between the parties;

II - in the relationship between the collecting financial institution and the receiving financial institution, by this circular and, insofar as it does not conflict with it:

a) by the document that records what was agreed upon between the financial institutions, in the situation referred to in art. 4, item I; and

b) by the regulation of the clearing and settlement system through which the interbank obligations arising will be settled, in the situation referred to in art. 4, item II.

Art. 4. The interbank obligations related to collection slips must be settled according to the following system:

I - collection slips with a value equal to or greater than the Reference Value for Bilateral Settlement of Collection Slips (VLB-Cobrança): the funds received as payment must be transferred, with the added value, directly by the receiving financial institution to the collecting financial institution, by 9:00 a.m. on the next business day following receipt;

II - collection slips with a value lower than the VLB-Cobrança: the funds received as payment must be settled through multilateral compensation via a settlement system approved by the Central Bank of Brazil.

Sole paragraph. The transfer of funds referred to in item I must be carried out through the Reserve Transfer System - STR, irrevocably and unconditionally.

Art. 5. The return of funds by the collecting financial institution to the receiving financial institution, if applicable, must be carried out:

I - in the situation referred to in art. 4, item I, through the STR, by 9:00 a.m. on the next business day following the date on which the funds were transferred by the receiving financial institution; and

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II - in the situation referred to in art. 4, item II, according to procedures and times defined in the regulation of the clearing and settlement system through which the transfer of funds was settled.

Art. 6. The communication of payments received, made by the receiving financial institution to the collecting financial institution, and, when applicable, the communication of payment returns, made by the collecting financial institution to the receiving financial institution, must be carried out:

I - in the situation referred to in art. 4, item I, according to procedures and times agreed upon between the financial institutions; and

II - in the situation referred to in art. 4, item II, in the form of procedures and times defined in the regulation of the settlement system in which the linked obligations will be settled.

Art. 7. The timeframes for fund transfers, referred to in art. 4, item I, and art. 5, item I, are subject to extension in situations related to holidays and contingencies.

Art. 8. In the case of settlement in the manner of art. 4, item I, the financial institutions referred to in art. 2, item II, must agree among themselves through their associations with seats on the Advisory Group for Clearing Matters, for uniform observation by all of them, regarding other aspects they deem necessary:

I - the procedures and times to be observed for the transmission of data related to collection slips;

II - the rights and obligations referred to in art. 3, item II, letter "a", including regarding the situations:

a) in which the receiving institution may refuse to receive payment of a collection slip;

b) which justify the return of payment by the collecting financial institution to the receiving financial institution; and

III - the situations referred to in art. 7.

Sole paragraph. What is decided regarding the aspects referred to in this article must be submitted to the approval of the Central Bank of Brazil, within 30 (thirty) business days counted from the date of publication of this circular.

Art. 9. The settlement system referred to in art. 4, item I, also applies to balance adjustments related:

I - to collection slips with a value higher than the VLB-Cobrança, regardless of the value of the adjustment; and

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II - to collection slips settled in the manner of art. 4, item II, if the global value of the adjustment is equal to or greater than the VLB-Cheque defined by the Central Bank of Brazil.

Art. 10. When applicable, the receiving financial institution is responsible for the custody of the collection slip, for a period of 60 (sixty) days counted from the date of receipt.

Art. 11. The VLB-Cobrança referred to in items I and II of art. 4 is fixed at R$ 5,000.00 (five thousand reais).

Art. 12. Failure to comply with the provisions of this circular subjects the financial institution to the provisions of art. 14 of the regulation annexed to Circular 3,100, of March 28, 2002, without prejudice to other applicable legal and regulatory provisions.

Art. 13. The Department of Banking Operations and Payment Systems - Deban is authorized to adopt the necessary measures for the execution of the provisions of this circular.

Sole paragraph. Deban may alter, as recommended by the evolution of the flow of collection slip payments, the times referred to in art. 4, item I, and art. 5, item I, of this circular.

Art. 14. This circular enters into force on February 18, 2005, when art. 1 of Circular 1,584, of February 22, 1990, items I, III, and V of art. 1 and art. 2 of Circular 1,994, of July 25, 1991, item II of art. 1 of Circular 3,118, of April 18, 2002, and items I and II of the initial paragraph of Letter-Circular 2,608, of December 29, 1995, are revoked.

Brasília, August 31, 2004.

Afonso Sant'Anna Bevilaqua
Director

Sérgio Darcy da Silva Alves
Director

This text does not replace the published version in the DOU and Sisbacen.