Regulation No. 108/2022 on the Release of Export Revenues from Precious Materials in Favor of Approved Counters

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BCRG
BANQUE CENTRALE OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA

25 OCT. 2022

REGULATION NO. 108/2022/LBC-FT/CC/BCRG
ON THE RELEASE OF EXPORT REVENUES
FROM PRECIOUS MATERIALS IN FAVOR
OF APPROVED COUNTERS

THE GOVERNOR

Having regard to Law No. L/2017/017/AN of 8 June 2017, repealing Law No. L/2016/064/AN of 9 November 2016, itself amending Law No. L/2014/016/AN of 2 July 2014 establishing the Statute of the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea;

Having regard to Law No. L/2000/006/AN of 28 March 2000, on transactions between the BCRG and foreign entities;

Having regard to Law No. L/2021/0024/AN of 16 June 2021 on the Fight against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in the Republic of Guinea;

Having regard to Instruction No. 037/BCRG of 4 February 2015, on the conditions for commercialization and export of gold in the Republic of Guinea;

Having regard to Regulation No. 112/DGAEM/RCH/00 of 11 September 2000, establishing the financial relations regime regarding transactions between the Republic of Guinea and foreign entities, particularly in Article 11;

Having regard to Decision No. 028/DGSIF/DSB of 13 August 2014 on the organization of the money laundering and terrorist financing fight mechanism at the BCRG;

Having regard to Regulation No. 088/2019/LBC-FT of 4 September 2019, on the procedures for foreign currency payments to the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea;

Having regard to Regulation No. 095/2021/BCRG of 25 June 2021, on the Central Bank's requirements regarding international transfers in favor of its counterparties;

Having regard to Regulation No. 098/2022/BCRG of 4 January 2022, on the monitoring of export revenues from precious materials within the Guinean financial system;

Having regard to Decree No. D/2021/0145/PRG/CNRD of 27 November 2021 on the appointment of Mr. as Governor of the Central Bank;

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12, Boulevard du Commerce, 6th Avenue de la République du/Kaloum - P.O. Box 692 - Conakry - Republic of Guinea Tel: (+224) 664 67 77 77 - Fax: (+224) 669 08 88 88 - email: secretariat.gouv@bcrg-guinee.org www.bcrg-guinee.org

D E C I D E

Article 1: This Regulation sets forth the procedures for monitoring shipments of precious materials and repatriation of related revenues in favor of Approved Counters.

Article 2: The actors implementing this Regulation are essentially the BCRG, Banks, and Approved Counters of precious materials.

Article 3: The Precious Materials Directorate (DMP) of the BCRG is responsible for:

• ensuring that all elements provided by the approved counter in connection with the precious materials shipment operation are exhaustive and up-to-date. These include copies of the following documents:

  • the RCCM (Commercial Register);
  • the company statutes;
  • the identity document of the counter's directors;
  • the BNE authorization;
  • the export license or renewal certificate;
  • the tax clearance;
  • the Kimberley Process certificate for diamond exports;

• requiring supporting documents and/or information sufficient to establish the origin of funds initially used for collecting the precious materials proposed for shipment. These include:

  • for an active counter, proof of all revenues used for the shipment, including those from repatriated revenues of previous shipments;
  • for a counter making its first export, the statutes and proof of fund origin.

• ensuring that the counter respects the legal deadline for repatriating export revenues related to its previous shipments before initiating a new shipment;

• submitting the concerned approved counters to the completion of the client identification form, "KYC form", and collecting from them a copy of any contractual document materializing their economic link with their foreign partner, the ultimate beneficiary of the precious material to be shipped;

Article 4: Approved Counters are required to respect the legal deadline for repatriating export revenues from precious materials, in accordance with Instruction No. 037 of 4 February 2015 on the conditions for commercialization and export of gold in the Republic of Guinea, under penalty of refusal by the BCRG to accept future shipments on their behalf.

For reconciliation and control purposes, the counter must communicate to its foreign partner the shipment file number to which the revenue repatriation is linked. This number must unequivocally appear in the Swift message for repatriation.

Article 5: The shipment file is submitted to the Internal Control Service near the DMP, which ensures compliance with all procedures listed in

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Article 3 above, before granting its approval for the continuation of the shipment operation.

Article 6: The Foreign Exchange Regulation Monitoring and Control Directorate (DCSRCH) of the BCRG, in accordance with Regulation No. 098 of 4 January 2022 on the monitoring of export revenues from precious materials, is responsible for establishing a database and providing repatriation reports, ensuring that these can be precisely attached over time to each precious materials export file.

For reconciliation purposes, the DCSRCH may at any time request from approved counters a copy of the Swift message and/or the withdrawal slip related to the repatriation of export revenues from precious materials into their accounts held at banks.

Article 7: The Foreign Exchange Operations Directorate (DOC) must carry out a series of procedures before authorizing the release of repatriated funds in favor of approved counters. To this end, it must require and/or verify the regularity of the following elements:

• a copy of the Swift message mentioning information on the beneficiary and the ordering party, their economic link, and the shipment file number to which the transfer is linked in accordance with Article 4;

• copies of other supporting documents for the shipment file (RCCM, BNE authorization, identity document copy, gold identification form, shipment evaluation form, air waybill);

• proof of economic link between the ordering party and the beneficiary;

• a copy of the export license and proof of repatriation of previous export revenues (report provided by the DCSRCH maintaining the tracking status of shipments and revenue repatriations).

In case of absence or irregularity of the supporting documents listed above, the DOC will suspend the operation until satisfactory evidence is obtained.

Article 8: Internal Control will ensure the conformity and validity of all supporting documents listed in Article 7 above, as well as the completion of first-level control by DOC actors, before transmitting to the Main Agency Directorate the release file, which must unequivocally include an extract of the export revenue tracking status, duly signed by the DCSRCH, DOC, and Internal Control.

Article 9: Internal Control will systematically transmit to the Compliance Cell:

• any release file where the amount exceeds the value of the initially shipped precious material (excess unrelated to gold or foreign exchange rate fluctuations);

• any file not backed by a precious materials shipment but denominated as such;

• or any other transfer unbacked by physical documents (copy of invoice, contract, or any other document justifying the operation).

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Article 10: Based on the files received from Internal Control, Compliance will verify:

• the identity of the ordering party (natural and/or legal person);

• the origin of funds (geographic zone) from which the transfer was initially issued based on the Swift message;

• the concordance of the ordering party's identity with that of the initially mentioned beneficial owner by cross-referencing information from the Swift message and those stated in the Air Transport Letter (ATL).

Article 11: Banks are required to ensure compliance with the requirements of this Regulation before any release of funds in favor of approved counters and/or to notify the BCRG via the Compliance Cell of any observed breaches in Articles 7 and 9 above.

Article 12: The Compliance Unit will analyze alerts emanating from operational services, Internal Control, banks, Correspondent Banks, or those originating from automated filtering or profiling tools.

Furthermore, it conducts post-control checks at least once a month to ensure that first-level controls as defined in the BCRG AML/CFT risk coverage plan are performed by operational directorates, and will report the results of its work in a table designed for this purpose to the AML/CFT Committee and Authorities.

Article 13: In case of inconsistencies and/or anomalies detected during the various controls, the following procedures are required:

• suspension of the shipment operation if an irregularity is observed in the process as described in Article 3 above, followed by notification to Internal Control and/or the Compliance Cell, which will conduct checks and, if applicable, order rejection of the operation;

• suspension by competent BCRG services of future shipments from the Approved Counter if the obligation to repatriate export revenues via the banking circuit is not met within required regulatory deadlines;

• suspension of the fund release operation for precious materials export revenues in favor of the Approved Counter if an irregularity is observed in the process as described in Articles 7 and 8 above, followed by notification to the Compliance Cell.

Article 14: This Regulation, which takes effect from its signature date, repeals all prior contrary provisions and shall be published wherever necessary.

[STAMP: BCRG BANQUE CENTRALE OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA - The Governor]

Dr Karamo KABA

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