2012-12-12 | BOLPROS-OPE-LIQ

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Operations and Settlements Instruction of the Bolsa de Productos de El Salvador, S.A. de C.V.

The document establishes the regulatory framework for transactions on the Bolsa de Productos de El Salvador, defining contract types, registration requirements for products and services, and procedures for open market operations. It mandates the use of firm offers, technical specifications, and sample evaluations, while outlining the rules for electronic and voice-based negotiation rounds. The instruction further details the formalization of trades through commission contracts and sales agreements, including specific timelines for execution and dispute resolution mechanisms.

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OPERATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS INSTRUCTION

OF THE BOLSA DE PRODUCTOS DE EL SALVADOR, S.A. DE C.V.

TITLE I

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

OBJECTIVE

Art. 1. This instruction aims to regulate the process to be carried out for transactions at the Bolsa de Productos de El Salvador, containing provisions regarding activities prior to negotiation, during negotiation, and the monitoring of closed contracts until their settlement.

DEFINITIONS

Art. 2. Throughout this Instruction, the following expressions and definitions will be used: a) Brokerage Agents, referred to as: The Agent or the Agents. b) Bolsa de Productos de El Salvador, S.A. de C.V., referred to as: The Exchange. c) Real Operation Certificate: Document by which the carrying out of operations is authorized for a Brokerage Post or Licensee. d) Counter-offer: An offer in which another previous one is changed or improved. e) Law of Product and Service Exchanges, referred to as: The Law. f) Technical Offer: A document that contains the technical terms of the products or services that the offeror claims to have and is willing to comply with, and submits them for the buyer's evaluation. g) Product and Service Brokerage Posts, referred to as: The Brokerage Post or the Post. h) Public Register: The entry of products or services that will be subject to negotiation, approved by the Exchange under specific norms issued by it and of public knowledge. The registration of products and services is mandatory prior to their negotiation. i) Superintendence of the Financial System, referred to as: The Superintendence.

CHAPTER II

TYPES OF CONTRACTS ACCORDING TO DELIVERY TERM

Art. 3. The stock market operations carried out at the Exchange may be arranged through the following types of contracts: a) Immediate delivery; b) Deferred delivery;


Art. 4. The Immediate Delivery Sales Contract results from a sales operation on products or services whose delivery must be made immediately or at the latest within three (3) business days following the negotiation. Under strict responsibility between the parties, contracts for the same day may be effected, which must be delivered on the same day of the negotiation.

Art. 5. The Deferred Delivery Sales Contract results from a sales operation on products or services that are available, and whose delivery will be made starting from the fourth business day after having been negotiated.

CHAPTER III

REGISTRATION OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Art. 6. The Board of Directors of the Exchange will approve the registration of product or service categories in the public register. Brokerage Posts or Licensees may request the registration of products or services in this public register; the Exchange may also register them ex officio.

It will be in the firm offers of purchase or sale where the characteristics and conditions of the products or services that will be subject to negotiation will be specified, according to the product or service categories authorized by the Board of Directors.

The Operations Department will enter the products or services requested by Brokerage Posts or Licensees into the system.

REQUIREMENTS FOR REGISTRATION

Art. 7. The registration of a product or service in the public register is a prerequisite for its negotiation and may be requested by any interested party through a Brokerage Post or Licensee, or may be ordered ex officio by the Exchange. If the registration is known by request of an interested party, the following requirements must be met: a) The firm offer will serve as the request for the registration of the products or services detailed in it. b) That the products or services subject to registration are not prohibited by law. c) They must be included among the categories approved by the Board of Directors of the Exchange.

Art. 8. In the public register, the name, unit of measurement, category of the products or services, date, and number of the Board of Directors meeting in which the negotiation of the product or service was authorized will be recorded.

CHAPTER IV

ON OPEN MARKET OPERATIONS

Art. 9. The open market corresponds to a type of sales operation of products or services, of immediate delivery or deferred delivery, in which buyer or seller clients act through the representation of Brokerage Posts. In this type of operations, Licensees may also participate. Open market negotiations are carried out through the public auction mechanism, and the final prices are the result of the free play of supply and demand. This auction may take place in an electronic system or by voice.

CONTRACTS AND DOCUMENTS TO FORMALIZE EXCHANGE OPERATIONS

COMMISSION CONTRACT Art. 10. Posts must sign a Commission Contract with their clients; this contract will serve to formalize their contractual relationship and is a requirement to participate in the negotiation process, presentation of samples, technical offers, and documentation required in firm offers. Posts are responsible for safeguarding the original contracts and having them available to the Exchange and auditing entities, when required. The Exchange will provide the contract format, which will contain the minimum elements, of which each Brokerage Post will elaborate its own and must deposit it with the Superintendence in accordance with what is established in the Consumer Protection Law.

NEGOTIATION ORDER Art. 11. Once the commission contract is signed, and to initiate the purchase or sale instructions of their clients, brokerage posts will receive from them the negotiation orders (See Annex 1) duly signed, which must contain at least: a) client name, b) sequential number of pre-printed orders or printed directly from a computer system always with a sequential number, c) date and time the order is received, d) identity of the person sending the order, e) type of order, f) detail of products or services, g) minimum or maximum prices, h) validity of the order.

The Brokerage Post must have a file of negotiation orders, ordered chronologically, which must be available to the Exchange and the Superintendence.

FIRM OFFER Art. 12. The Firm Offer is an official document presented to the Exchange, to buy or sell products or services under which the Brokerage Post or Licensee presenting it commits to fulfilling it according to the conditions stipulated in said document (See Annex 2).

The Firm Offer of Purchase or Sale must contain at least: a) Detail of products or services. b) Base Price. c) Technical Specifications d) Deadlines for delivery and payment. e) Documents necessary to offer. f) Presentation of samples or catalogs, as well as evaluation procedures.

g) Required guarantees

Brokerage Posts and Licensees must prepare the Firm Offer of Purchase or Sale, which will contain all negotiation conditions and technical specifications of the products or services; this document must be presented physically and electronically to the Exchange.

The Exchange, within a time not exceeding three business days, will review the firm offer presented and, if there are observations, will notify the interested party for the respective clarifications and modifications. If there are no observations, it will be published on the Exchange's website, where consultation times, presentation of samples, technical offers, and required documentation will be established.

At the time of publishing the firm offer, the Operations Department will assign a sequential number for its respective identification. The sequential number will reset each year.

INQUIRIES INTO PUBLISHED FIRM OFFERS Art. 13. When publishing the firm offer, the maximum time to make inquiries will be established, which cannot be less than five business days. These will serve to clarify or expand data on technical specifications or any other element detailed in the firm offer and its annexes.

For the purpose of ordering the inquiry process, the following guidelines must be followed:

  1. The interested party may make inquiries via email and subsequently must submit them in writing, duly signed and stamped by the Agent. Inquiries will be directed directly to the Brokerage Post or Licensee that presented the Firm Offer, with a copy to all participants and to the Exchange.
  2. Inquiries must be made as clearly and simply as possible, in chronological order, similar to the drafting of the firm offer, mentioning the corresponding section.
  3. Inquiries to different Firm Offers must not be mixed in the same letter.
  4. The Brokerage Post must receive the observations from all its clients referred to the same Firm Offer, make a summary, and then draft a single document of inquiries.
  5. The Brokerage Post or Licensee that presented the Firm Offer must respond to inquiries at the latest two business days before the negotiation. Additionally, within the same deadline, it must present the offer with its modifications. The responses must be directed to all participants and to the Exchange.
  6. Inquiries and responses will be published in bulletins, for greater transparency of the process.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES Art. 14. The technical specifications of each product or service will be contained in the firm offer document or its annexes.

These must be drafted without reference to brand names, catalog numbers, or types of equipment from a specific manufacturer or supplier; unless it is a unique manufacturer or supplier of the good or service subject to negotiation.

Art. 15. It is the responsibility of Brokerage Posts or Licensees participating in negotiations to comply with the technical specifications of published firm offers.

In the commission contract signed between the client and the selling Brokerage Post, the client's obligations must include at least the following: a) providing all relevant product or service information for the transaction, b) that the client will be liable to the Brokerage Post for non-compliance with the technical specifications of published offers.

SAMPLES, TECHNICAL OFFERS, AND DOCUMENTS

Art. 16. When negotiations require the presentation of samples, technical offers, or additional documentation; this must be established in the firm offers. Technical evaluation or sample analysis will be carried out according to the procedure established in said offers.

Art. 17. For a product sample to be taken into account for the evaluation process, it must respect the presentation conditions established in the Firm Offer; it is the responsibility of Brokerage Posts and Licensees that such samples meet the requirements.

If it is a requirement that the sample remain in the possession of the buying client, it must be mentioned in the Firm Offer. Only the buying client may keep the samples from the winning client, returning the rest.

The evaluation of samples may be carried out with or without the presence of those who presented said samples; this will be defined by the buyer.

Art. 18. If a sample or technical offer is not accepted, the technically justified reason for excluding it must be detailed. Similarly, in case the seller disagrees with the result, they have the right to request in writing from the Exchange a review of the results, exposing the grounds for such request. The request must be presented within a maximum deadline of one business day after the evaluation result has been notified.

For the purpose of a review, the Exchange will use specialists according to the type of product or service involved, and the costs incurred for these effects will be borne by the party that is not in the right. The Exchange will ensure that the costs of said evaluations are in line with market prices for the type of service required; for these purposes, the Exchange will request at least three quotes that meet the requirements and choose the lowest cost one. Negotiation will not begin until the review has been resolved.

Art. 19. When the buying client accepts a technical offer or a catalog of a product or service, and these do not exactly coincide with what was initially required in the firm offer, but improve the technical specifications, if they result as the winner of the negotiation, these documents will be an integral part of the Sales Contracts, a copy of which must be attached. The winning (awarded) selling Brokerage Post or Licensee will be responsible for providing copies to both the buyer and the Exchange.

The acceptance of the documents referred to is the strict responsibility of the buying client.

Art. 20. When firm offers request the presentation of samples, technical offers, and documents, the deadline for the start of presentation of these cannot be less than five business days after the publication of said offer.

The presentation must be made directly at the facilities designated by the client, which will be recorded in the firm offer. The entire process of receiving these must be coordinated by the Brokerage Post presenting the firm offer.

CHAPTER V PROCEDURE FOR CARRYING OUT NEGOTIATIONS

Art. 21. The Exchange will publish on its website the firm offers authorized so that they are known to the entire public. Additionally, it will keep an internal record of firm offers presented by Brokerage Posts and Licensees, ordered chronologically.

The publication time of firm offers will be according to the type of product or service to be negotiated, which will be assigned by the Exchange when reviewing and authorizing the publication of said Offer. In any case, such publication will not be less than five business days.

Art. 21-A. (2) In cases of national emergency, public calamity, or natural disaster, duly declared, the Board of Directors may agree to reduce deadlines and modify the procedures established in the preceding articles, with the purpose of satisfying the contracting needs of goods and services linked to the declared emergency, calamity, or natural disaster. In these cases, the commissions charged by the Exchange will be those in effect at the time of the emergency declaration, unless a lower commission is defined. (2)

The foregoing must be made known to the Superintendence of the Financial System, at the latest three business days after having been approved by the Board of Directors. (2)

NEGOTIATION ROUNDS

Art. 22. Negotiation rounds may be carried out through an electronic system or by voice; the latter will take place in the premises of the Exchange or any other place designated by it, provided they are public meetings where all authorized participants have access and freedom to intervene, have information available, and the price is determined in a public auction.

Both negotiation sessions will be directed by a Floor Director, who will have the following functions:

a) Administer the start and development of negotiation rounds, ensuring that all technical aspects are functioning correctly.

b) Ensure compliance with ethical and behavioral norms during the development of exchange sessions.

c) Establish improvements in bid ranges to expedite negotiation.

d) Make verbal reprimands for improper behavior by participants within negotiation sessions.

e) Report to the hierarchical superior any abnormality that arises during the development of the session.

f) Annul operations when requested by interested parties, in accordance with this instruction.

g) Sign a minutes document at the end of each negotiation round, in which what happened in it will be recorded.

ELECTRONIC NEGOTIATION ROUND

NEGOTIATION SYSTEM

Art. 23. Negotiation Rounds may be carried out through the electronic system, previously authorized by the Board of Directors of the Exchange, which will be provided by the Exchange and to which all Brokerage Posts and Licensees will have access, provided they have met the minimum technology requirements required by the Exchange for the proper functioning of said system.

NEGOTIATION HOURS

Art. 24. Ordinary negotiation hours and cases in which the General Manager may convene extraordinary sessions will be determined by agreement of the Board of Directors of the Exchange, which must be notified to the participants of the Exchange, to the Superintendence, and disseminated through the Exchange's website twenty-four hours after being approved by the Board of Directors.

The General Manager will convene extraordinary sessions to hold negotiation rounds when the conditions established by the Board of Directors are met; communicating the hours in a period not less than twenty-four hours before the start of the negotiation round, except in cases of fortuitous event, force majeure, or national emergency.

CONTRACTING

Art. 25. Brokerage Posts and Licensees certified by the Exchange, through their Agents, will introduce their offers into the electronic negotiation system, provided that the base prices established in the firm offers are respected; otherwise, the offers will not be accepted by the system.

The system will have two matching priorities: best price and order of arrival. The best price matching priority will have preference.

Art. 26. When an operation is closed (awarded) through the electronic system, the Exchange will issue the respective Sales Contracts (See Annex 4), which must be signed the next business day after the transaction has been closed, by: the Buying Agent or Buying Licensee, the Selling Agent or Selling Licensee, and the Floor Director. When it concerns negotiation by lots, the sales contracts must be signed within five business days following the closing of the transaction (1). In any case, one original contract and four copies will be issued; the original remains in the possession of the Exchange, Brokerage Posts or Licensees, and intervening clients will receive a copy of the contract. The Board of Directors of the Exchange may grant, for each particular case when it concerns negotiation by lots, an extension of the five-day deadline when necessary due to the volume of operations and contracts concluded. (1)

The foregoing is excepted for contracting procedures related to critical goods and services carried out by public institutions, which remain subject to the validity of the General National Budget of the following fiscal year or approval of its extension; in which case, the respective sales contracts will be issued at the latest on the third business day following the validity of the new General National Budget or the extension of the previous one. In the case provided for in this paragraph, the offer maintenance guarantee of whoever closed the operation must be extended until January 31 of the following year or until the day the guarantee of faithful performance of the contract is presented. (3)

The sales contract must contain at least: 1) date of negotiation, 2) product or service negotiated, 3) closing price, 4) quantity, 5) contracting parties, and 6) Existence or non-existence of an arbitral clause.

Sales contracts will include as an annex: the firm offer, catalogs, and technical offers presented; documentation that will remain in the possession of the buyer. Once the contract is closed, addenda may be signed in accordance with articles 82 and 83 of this instruction.

PARTICIPANTS IN ELECTRONIC NEGOTIATION ROUNDS

Art. 27. In Negotiation Rounds carried out under the electronic system, the following users may participate:

a) Exchange Officials: The Exchange will designate qualified officials to administer and control all operations carried out through the electronic system, these having the responsibility to enforce the laws, regulations, and instructions that apply. As well as to assist system users.

b) Brokerage Posts and Licensees: will act in the stock market through the Agents they specially designate.

Art. 28. Users will have the obligation to comply with the following rules:

a) Every authorized participant must have their respective user and secret key that identifies them as such and allows them to enter the electronic system. Such user and key will be assigned by the Exchange.

b) The use of the secret key is personal and non-transferable; therefore, any operation derived from its use is the strict responsibility of the same.

ELECTRONIC NEGOTIATION PROCESS NEGOTIATION PROCESS

A. ENTRY OF FIRM OFFERS

Art. 29. A designee from the Exchange's operations department will be in charge of registering in the computer system all firm offers, whether purchase or sale, that are received and authorized for negotiation. This authorization will be given by the General Management or Operations Management. They will be entered with the base or reference prices detailed in the Firm Offers.

Art. 30. Any Firm Offer at the Exchange implies an obligation on the part of the offeror to buy or sell to any other brokerage post or licensee, during the course of any negotiation round. The offeror's refusal to sign the sales contract will give rise for the counterparty to demand the execution of the offer maintenance guarantee.

Art. 31. "Firm Offers" that are under negotiation and have not been closed, or those that still have an available balance, may be negotiated in the next negotiation round and so on until their closure or expiration; for the latter case, the system automatically removes them. The expiration is recorded in the Firm Offer presented to the Exchange and is published on the Exchange's website, as well as any extensions requested for them.

Art. 32. The firm offer that has not been negotiated, due to not reaching an agreement on price by participants, may be withdrawn by the Brokerage Post or Licensee that presented it, which will be notified by the Operations Management. The withdrawal request must be presented in writing to the Exchange.

Under no circumstances may a firm offer be withdrawn during the development of a negotiation session.

B. AUTHORIZED USERS TO NEGOTIATE DURING NEGOTIATION ROUNDS


Art. 33. Stock Exchange Posts and Licensees authorized by the Exchange and the Superintendence may participate in the trading round.

When firm offers require the presentation of samples, technical offers, or documentation, participation will be conditioned by the results of the evaluations. In addition, they must have presented the offer maintenance guarantees as established in the Guarantees Instruction.

C. SYSTEM SCREENS

Art. 34. The electronic trading system administered by the Exchange contains screens that are developed in the following articles.

INDICATIVE PRICE SCREEN

Art. 35. The Indicative Price screen shows the firm offers with their base prices, which were entered by the Exchange.

Art. 36. Interested users may send their counter-offer prices, that is, their sale or purchase proposals, respecting the base prices.

Art. 37. There are no automatic matches on this screen. It is used solely for the client who presented the firm offer to evaluate the prices offered by the market.

Art. 38. The offers remain on this screen until the day and time of trading arrives. Then, they move to the trading screen.

Art. 39. If a firm offer receives a counter-offer that matches it in price, it passes directly to the Upcoming Auction screen.

TRADING SCREEN

Art. 40. Upon arrival of the day and time of trading, according to what has been published by the Exchange, the firm offers and their counter-offers are displayed on the Trading screen.

Art. 41. Interested parties must enter their counter-offers through this screen, respecting the base prices and the values to be split, where applicable.

Art. 42. Until a match is made, participating users, buyers or sellers, may modify the prices of their offers.

Art. 43. The offers remain on this screen until an automatic match is made or their validity period ends. If a match is made, it moves to the Upcoming Auction screen.

UPCOMING AUCTION SCREEN

Art. 44. Screen designed to notify participants of operations that are about to go through the auction process, in this process all participants have the opportunity to offer better prices through bids.

Art. 45. The operations are displayed in the order in which they were matched on the trading screen.

Art. 46. The operations remain on this screen until the hour of the Auction period arrives. The auction periods are established by the Exchange, which makes them known to the market. These may be modified during the Trading Round by the Floor Director and according to the trading conditions at the time.

Matched operations must remain on the upcoming auction screen for a minimum time of three minutes.

AUCTION SCREEN

Art. 47. Upon arrival of the hour of the auction period, the operations are opened one by one according to the order in which they matched, so that their prices can be improved. The operations may also be split, respecting the splitting values established in the firm offers.

Art. 48. The time intervals to start a bid, time between bids, and splitting time will be established by the General Manager, who will make them known to the market, and they will enter into force at least twenty-four hours after their notification.

Art. 49. If during the established time to start a bid, no bid is made, the system will close it and therefore it will be awarded to the initial users who matched it.

Art. 50. For each product, service, Lot or Sub-Lot, the operations department will assign a minimum and a maximum bid value, which will be set at the time of entering the firm offer.

Art. 51. Characteristics of Bids: a) The bid on the buying side occurs when the initial buying user is replaced by another who offers a higher price. b) The bid on the selling side occurs when the initial selling user is replaced by another seller who offers a lower price. c) Once the bid is initiated, the system validates and maintains the trend, either upward or downward, depending on how it was initiated. d) Every user has the right to defend their position. e) "Self-bidding" is not allowed. Self-bidding is understood as follows: I. That the bid is initiated by the Agent who matched the operation and that said position corresponds to the same client who matched it. II. That the Agent makes consecutive bids and these correspond to the same client, without the participation of another interested party. f) The operation closes once the bid has concluded and it is assigned to the final buying and selling users respectively.

Art. 52. Operations may be split, according to what is detailed in the firm offers. The system will only allow the entry of quantities that respect the splitting values established in the firm offers. Then, the respective bidding process will be carried out.

Art. 53. In the event of splitting an operation, the remainder will be made available for the proper bidding process and so on until it is fully closed (awarded).

Art. 54. Once the operations are closed, the respective Sales Contracts will be printed. Unless otherwise provided in the second paragraph of Article 26. (3)

CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR ELECTRONIC TRADING ROUNDS

Art. 55. Stock Exchange Posts and Licensees that experience failures preventing them from entering the system must report it to the Operations Manager at the time the event occurs and immediately move to the Exchange offices to continue their participation in the trading round, through workstations physically located at the Exchange headquarters. If the time to finish the round is insufficient for said Agents to access the system, the Operations Manager will evaluate the situation and decide whether or not to extend the round time. This decision must be recorded, duly reasoned, in the minutes of the day's session.

If the aforementioned failures are attributable to the Exchange, no remote station will have access to the system; therefore, the session will be halted and the Agents must move to the Exchange offices so that the round is conducted via Voice Trading.

VOICE TRADING ROUND

Art. 56. Agents will have a maximum deadline of thirty minutes to (1) cross or agree on the open operations found in the list of Firm Offers. Any cross or agreement must be signed by the Agents drafting the "Agreement Minutes" (See Annex 3), which will be delivered to one of the Exchange officials designated for trading. An official from the operations department will type or write on a board the name of the product or service, the unit price, the name of the buying Stock Exchange Post, the name of the selling Stock Exchange Post, and these data will be projected for the knowledge of the rest of the participants in the trading round. If after thirty minutes no agreement minutes have been presented, the session will be considered concluded.

Art. 57. Any Firm Offer at the Exchange implies an obligation on the part of the offeror to buy or sell to any other stock exchange post or licensee, during any trading round. The offeror's refusal to sign the sales contract will give rise for the counterparty to demand the execution of the offer maintenance guarantee.

Art. 58. If the representative of the Stock Exchange Post or Licensee that presented the Firm Offer is not present in the trading floor at the moment another Stock Exchange Post or licensee is interested in accepting the offer in whole or in part, as indicated therein, the interested party may proceed to fill out the agreement minutes respecting all the terms and conditions established in the offer, and must present it to the Floor Director to be announced. The purchase or sale will be understood as made under the terms of the firm offer, and the offering Stock Exchange Post or licensee is obligated under the terms of the firm offer and its annexes.

Art. 59. "Firm Offers" that are under negotiation and are not closed or those that still have a balance available, may be negotiated in the next trading round and so on until their closure or expiration. The expiration is stated in the Firm Offer presented to the Exchange and is published on the Exchange's website, as well as any extensions requested for them.

Art. 60. The Firm Offer that has not been negotiated, due to not reaching an agreement on price by the participants, may be withdrawn by the Stock Exchange Post or Licensee that presented it, which will be notified by the Floor Director. The withdrawal request must be submitted in writing to the Exchange.


Art. 61. Any increase or reduction in the base price of a Firm Offer must be notified in writing by the interested Stock Exchange Post to the Exchange, at the end of a trading round, and it must be published on the Exchange's website on the same day.

Art. 62. The operations official acting as auctioneer will begin the announcement of the agreement minutes in the order in which they were received, their only function being to announce; another official from the operations department will have the function of recorder, who will be responsible solely for typing or writing the data of each of the agreement minutes so that they can be subject to bids leading to the closure of the operation, improving the selling or buying position.

Art. 63. Once the agreement minutes are announced, a time interval will be given to make bids. If during this time no manifestation regarding the agreement is made, it will be closed and therefore awarded to the initial signatories.

The time intervals to start a bid and the time between bids will be established by the General Manager, who will make them known to the market, and they will enter into force at least twenty-four hours after their notification.

Art. 64. It is mandatory to announce every agreement minutes before closing it, to give the option to any Stock Exchange Post or Licensee to improve the buying or selling position. If the winning position is different from the initial position, it must sign the agreement minutes, in which the closing price will be indicated. Subsequently, said minutes will be signed by the Floor Director.

Art. 65. The agreement minutes will be the basis for the preparation of the Sales Contract (See Annex 4), which must be signed the next business day after the transaction has closed, by the Agents of the Stock Exchange Posts or Licensees who made the prior agreement and who close the operation.

Art. 66. Characteristics of Bids:

a) The bid on the buying side occurs when an initial buying agent is replaced by another who offers a higher price.

b) The bid on the selling side can occur when the initial seller is replaced by another seller who offers a lower price.

c) The trend of the bid in price must be maintained, either upward or downward, depending on how it was initiated.

d) When a crossed operation is dictated in the trading floor, and proposals from other interested parties are presented in the round, the Agent of the original post that crossed the operation will have the right to defend their position.

e) "Self-bidding" is not allowed. Self-bidding is understood as follows:

I. That the bid is initiated by the Agent who matched the operation and that said position corresponds to the same client who matched it.

II. That the Agent makes consecutive bids and these correspond to the same client, without the participation of another interested party.

f) The operation closes once the bid has concluded and it is assigned to the final buying and selling agents respectively.

Art. 67. Bids must be subject to the following provisions:

a) The operation must be awarded to the agent who presents the best offer out loud.

b) When the operation has been bid out loud simultaneously by two or more agents, it will be assigned according to the criterion of the Floor Director, unless an agreement is reached between the interested parties.

Art. 68. Operations may be split, according to what is detailed in the firm offers. The Floor Director will only admit quantities that respect the splitting values established in the firm offers. Then, the respective bidding process will be carried out.

Art. 69. In the event of splitting an operation, the remainder will be noted on the board and made available for the proper bidding process and so on until it is fully closed (awarded).

Art. 70. The Stock Exchange Agent who participates in a bid without having a trading order backing it or bids outside the price limits established by their client, will be considered as a fictitious bid and will be sanctioned according to what is regulated in the General Regulations.

CHAPTER VI ISSUANCE OF SALES CONTRACT AND PROCEDURE RELATED TO THE DELIVERY OF THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE

Art. 71. At the close of the bidding period for each operation, the respective Sales Contracts will be issued, which must be signed the next business day after the transaction has closed, by: the Buying Agent, the Selling Agent, and the Floor Director. This deadline is excepted for the case considered in the second paragraph of Article 26. (3)

Art. 72. The Exchange will keep a record of open market operations which must contain at minimum: product or service, quantity, price, operation date, delivery and payment term, buying and selling Stock Exchange Posts, and the name of the buying client.

Art. 73. The Exchange will provide the corresponding delivery orders for all sales contracts, so that they may manage and coordinate the delivery of the goods or services negotiated, which will contain the details of what will be delivered, as well as the delivery dates and places. Delivery orders must be requested within five business days prior to the delivery date.

Art. 74. The Stock Exchange Posts and Licensees, buyer and seller, are obligated to coordinate the date and time when the delivery and receipt of the products or services will take place, so that those responsible for receiving and signing the receipt documents are present at the time of delivery.

Any change to the delivery date that has already been coordinated must be requested from the counterparty at least three business days before the same.

If, having coordinated the delivery, it cannot take place due to the absence of one of the parties, the transportation costs will be borne by the party that failed to coordinate.

Art. 75. It is the responsibility of the selling post to ensure that, on the date established for delivery, the product is available and in the conditions and terms established in the Sales Contract and its annexes.

Art. 76. During the process of receiving or withdrawing from the facilities established by the selling client, the Buying Client must verify that the product or service complies with the technical specifications established in the sales contract and its annexes. If it does not comply with the specifications, the product must be rejected and the Exchange must be informed immediately. In this case, the transportation cost will be borne by the seller.

Art. 77. Once the product is delivered, the selling Stock Exchange Post, within a period not greater than two business days following the delivery, must present to the Exchange a copy of the duly signed and stamped delivery order (See Annex 5), where the receipt date and the name of the person who received it are recorded. The non-presentation of this will be assumed to mean that the product or service has not been delivered.

Art. 78. When the sales contracts stipulate that the buyer will raise Receipt Minutes, the deadline for preparing them must be established in the Firm Offer, as well as the persons responsible for signing them. In any case, this time for deliveries within the country must not exceed five business days after receiving the product or service, and in the Metropolitan Area of Greater San Salvador, three business days.

ON COACTIVE EXECUTION

Art. 79. If the delivery of the product or service is not fulfilled on the dates established in the sales contract, the affected party may, within a period not greater than five business days counted from the agreed deadline for delivery, request through a letter addressed to the General Management of the Exchange, the forced or coactive liquidation of the unfulfilled obligation.

Art. 80. Upon requesting coactive execution, the Exchange will announce it to the market so that in the next Trading Round, through an immediate delivery contract or term delivery contract, the unfulfilled products or services can be obtained at the best possible price. If the price at which they are obtained is higher than the price closed in the operation of the unfulfilled contract, the Exchange will proceed to execute the contract compliance guarantees up to an amount that allows it to fulfill the referred payment obligation and the Exchange commissions corresponding to the buyer for the new operation that takes place.

When the guarantee has been constituted by check, the remainders will be returned with a credit to the Client's account; if it has been constituted by other forms stipulated in the Guarantees Instruction, and if there is a remainder, it will be returned to the Client no later than one business day after all contract obligations have been fulfilled. The Exchange will verify the fulfillment of obligations in a period that cannot exceed ten business days.

Art. 81. If the obtaining of the products and services cannot be carried out within a period not greater than three trading rounds, the Exchange will proceed to execute the Contract Compliance Guarantee granted by the defaulting party and proceed to deliver it to the affected party. For this, the Exchange must draw up a delivery act of the money and the affected client must deliver a receipt voucher for the money.

AMENDMENTS TO SALES CONTRACTS

Art. 82. Any modification to the conditions detailed in the Sales Contracts and their annexes, whether increases or decreases in the quantities to be delivered, changes regarding the characteristics of the offered products or services, or other variation of the technical specifications, must be formalized through an AMENDMENT that the Exchange will issue and that the involved Stock Exchange Posts or licensees must sign voluntarily to certify their conformity and that of their clients, regarding the changes. For this, the possibility of making amendments must be stated in the firm offer and the interested Stock Exchange Post or licensee must send a letter requesting the amendment, duly signed by both parties, detailing the contract date, contract number, product or service, and any other data related to the change, where it must specifically mention what the modification is.

Art. 83. Increases in contracted quantities in sales contracts will be admitted in a percentage not greater than thirty percent, according to the justifications presented by the Stock Exchange Post representing the buying client. Any percentage greater than thirty percent will be authorized by the Board of Directors.

BILLING

Art. 84. Once the product or service has been received in conformity, the Selling Client must prepare the corresponding billing, in the name of the Stock Exchange Post that represents them. Subsequently, said Post must bill in the name of the Buying Stock Exchange Post, and finally, the latter must bill the final buying client.

If the seller is a licensee, they must bill in the name of the Buying Stock Exchange Post or buying licensee.

Art. 85. Direct Billing. The Exchange may authorize direct billing between the selling client and the buying client, without the involvement of a Stock Exchange Post, when the following cases arise: 1) the product or service is exempt, 2) the client or Institution enjoys fiscal exemption, 3) the source of financing enjoys fiscal exemptions, or 4) when the Institution's operational requirements so dictate, which must be authorized by the Board of Directors of the Exchange.

EXTENSIONS TO DELIVERY DEADLINES

Art. 86. Extensions to delivery deadlines may be requested for causes duly justified by the seller, observing the following:

a) The selling client, through a letter on the company's letterhead, duly signed and stamped by the General Manager or Legal Representative, must send to the Stock Exchange Post representing them the extension request, in which they will detail the contract number, name of the negotiated product (if negotiated by lot, it must detail the products or services), quantity, delivery deadline, and the date scheduled for delivery. All supporting documentation substantiating the reason for the delay must be attached, no later than six days before the delivery deadline agreed upon in the contract.

b) The Selling Stock Exchange Post will send the extension request letter to the buying Stock Exchange Post, with a copy to the Exchange; all documents mentioned in the previous paragraph must be attached, no later than five business days before the originally agreed delivery date.

c) The affected Stock Exchange Post, upon receiving the extension request, must forward it to its client and the latter, through a formal letter signed by the contract responsible person, will notify their decision, within a period not greater than two business days after receiving the request.

It will be the affected Stock Exchange Post that will formally notify the requesting Stock Exchange Post, with a copy to the Exchange, of the client's decision, within a period not greater than one business day after receiving the client's decision.

d) The Exchange, if the extension is authorized, will proceed to substitute the Delivery Orders with the new authorized date. If the extension is denied, the affected client through their stock exchange post will indicate whether to proceed with coactive liquidation.

e) The documents of the extension requests and the notifications referred to in letters a), b), and c) of this article, may be sent scanned via email, but the original document must be delivered no later than one business day after the email is sent.

f) If deemed necessary, the Exchange, at any time, may request a meeting with the involved parties, drawing up minutes with the agreements reached, which will be signed by all involved parties.

g) If the process established in this article is not followed, and the stipulated delivery date is not met, the Exchange will execute, at the request of a party, the procedure to forcibly or coercively liquidate the unfulfilled obligation.

CHAPTER VII PROCEDURE FOR SETTLEMENT OF OPERATIONS

Art. 87. The monetary settlement of operations comprises:

a) The payment of commissions that must be made by the Stock Exchanges and Licensees to the Exchange, under the terms stipulated in the tariff and commission table. b) The payment of products and services that have been delivered in accordance with the deadlines and conditions established in the sales contracts and their annexes.

SETTLEMENT

Art. 88. The Selling Stock Exchanges or Licensees must present to the Exchange a copy of the document submission form for collection (See Annex 6) which states that they have delivered and have received in conformity, all documents requested in the contract to manage payment (invoices, delivery orders, shipping notes, etc.). The letter must contain the name of the person receiving it, signature, seal of the Stock Exchange representing the buying Stock Exchange or Licensee, and the date on which the documents were received. This must be done no later than two business days counted from the date of its presentation.

Art. 89. The Buying Stock Exchanges or Licensees must present to the Exchange a copy of the document submission form for collection (See Annex 6) which states that they have delivered and the client has received in conformity, all documents referred to in the previous article. The letter must contain the name, signature of the person receiving them, seal, and date of receipt. This must be done no later than two business days counted from the date of its presentation.

Art. 90. The monetary settlement must be carried out within the times stipulated in the Sales Contracts and their annexes. For this purpose, the Exchange will provide a list of payment maturities, one week in advance. The foregoing does not exempt the Stock Exchanges and Licensees from maintaining their own control of payment maturities in accordance with the deadlines established in the sales contracts.

Art. 91. The payment of the buying position must be made within the deadlines established in the sales contracts. Nevertheless, the Exchange's settlement process comprises two steps:

a) Payment of the buying position. Upon arrival of the payment maturity date for the invoices, the buying client deposits the monetary value into a bank account of the Stock Exchange representing them. The authorized bank accounts will be provided by the Exchange. In the event that the buying client is a Licensee, they must transfer the funds to the bank account of the Stock Exchange representing the Seller. If the selling client is a Licensee, then they must transfer them to their account. The Stock Exchange must transfer the received funds to the bank account of the Stock Exchange representing the seller, no later than ten o'clock in the morning on the next business day after the funds have been received.

b) Payment of the selling position. Upon receipt of the funds from the Buying Stock Exchange, the Stock Exchange representing the Selling Client must transfer the funds to the client's account. This must be done no later than ten o'clock in the morning on the next business day after the funds have been received. The bank accounts of the Stock Exchanges will function with joint signatures between officials of the Stock Exchange and officials of the Exchange.

Art. 92. The Exchange will issue a settlement slip (See Annex 7) which will serve to document the payment of the contracted products or services. This document will contain: 1) Payment date, 2) Payment method, 3) Bank name, 4) Bank account number, 5) Selling Stock Exchange or Licensee, 6) Contract, 7) Product, 8) Order number, 9) Amount, 10) Signature and seal of an official from the Exchange's operations department. Two copies of the settlement slip will be provided, one that the Selling Stock Exchange must safeguard and another that must be delivered to the selling client.

DIRECT SETTLEMENT

Art. 93. The Exchange may authorize a direct settlement between the buying client and the selling client, in those cases where it cannot be carried out in accordance with what is established in the previous article. For these cases, evidence of the payment being made through the stock exchange representing them must be presented to the Exchange.

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