On April 20, 2023, the Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina (hereinafter “BCRA”) issued Communiqué “A” 7746 (hereinafter “Communiqué”) and established new requirements for access to the foreign exchange market.
The BCRA established the following:
A. Provisions relating to payment for services
Entities shall require the prior approval of the BCRA to give access to the foreign exchange market to clients before 60 (sixty) calendar days from the date of approval of the SIRASE affidavit when the transaction corresponds to the following items related to (i) research and development services (ii) legal, accounting and management services (iii) advertising services, market research and public opinion polls (iv) architectural, engineering and other technical services (v) other business services.
The requirement to obtain the prior approval of the BCRA does not apply, when the payment is made through (i) an exchange and/or arbitrage against a local account in foreign currency (ii) the payment is paid with funds originated in an import financing of services granted by a local financial institution from a commercial credit line abroad and the totality of the principal of the financing matures after the indicated term and (iii) the access simultaneously with the settlement of a new financial indebtedness abroad for which the totality of the principal matures after the indicated term.
In the case of the payments of services related to the counterparties located abroad, in which local agents collect in the country the funds corresponding to services rendered by non-residents to residents are involved, in order to access the foreign exchange market for payments corresponding to items “S02. Other transportation services”, it will be necessary that the payment is made 90 calendar days after the effective date of rendering of the service.
B. Payment of commercial and financial debt to related counterparties
Until December 31, 2023 and when the creditor is a counterparty related to the debtor, the prior approval of the BCRA will be required to access the foreign exchange market to pay interest services of commercial debts for imports of goods and services and/or financial loans abroad. Such requirement will not be applicable to local financial institutions’ own transactions.
In addition, the intervening financial entity, before requesting prior approval from the BCRA, must verify compliance with all other regulatory requirements applicable to the transaction.
This restriction is in addition to the restriction set forth in Communiqué “A” 7621, whereby the BCRA’s prior approval requirement for accessing the foreign exchange market for payments of principal of financial indebtedness abroad with related counterparties was extended until December 31, 2023.
C. Provisions relating to securities transactions.
Within the framework of the provisions that establish the complementary requirements for access to the foreign exchange market, it is required to file affidavits related to transactions with securities and transactions involving the delivery of funds and other liquid local assets -except funds in foreign currency deposited in local financial entities- to a person or legal entity that exercises a direct control relationship over the company accessing the foreign exchange market.
Until the issuance of the Communiqué, the legal terms set forth in the foreign exchange regulations were 90 days prior to the date on which the access to the foreign exchange market is requested and 90 days after such date, in the case of transactions with securities. The Communiqué extended such legal terms to 180 calendar days as from the day access to the foreign exchange market is requested.
Likewise, the Communiqué provided that in the case of securities issued under Argentine law, the legal term to be computed will remain at 90 calendar days.
In the case of the affidavit regarding the delivery of funds and other local liquid assets delivered to a person or legal entity that exercises a direct control relationship over the company requesting access to the foreign exchange market, the Communiqué extended the legal term required for the filing of the affidavits to 180 calendar days prior to the date the access to the foreign exchange market is requested.
D. Provisions on savings, salary account and special deposit rules
A special account may be credited with a special account whose remuneration is determined based on the evolution of the reference exchange rate of Communiqué “A” 3500: (i) the peso equivalent of the amount of payments to non-residents that may be made with pesos without the prior approval of the BCRA, (ii) the equivalent in pesos received for foreign currency settlements in the foreign exchange market that do not correspond to transactions subject to the obligation of settlement in the foreign exchange market (iii) the equivalent in pesos of the amount of interest payments that have not been made through the foreign exchange market pursuant to the provisions of point 3 herein, to the extent that it is evidenced that the compliance with the remaining regulatory requirements are applied to the transaction.
Access the complete text of the Communiqué here.
Esta publicación no constituye una opinión legal sobre asuntos específicos. En caso de ser necesario, deberá procurarse asesoría legal especializada.
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