Cláudia Vaz Póvoa | André Reis e Silva
On September 17, the Bank of Portugal published Instruction 27/2012, which regulates the communication of statistical information to the Bank of Portugal. Its main goal is to enable the Bank to fulfil its obligations of statistical reporting to international institutions, such as the ECB, the Eurostat or the IMF.
Among the entities covered by this Instruction are the individuals and corporate entities based in Portugal, who operate their activity in the country but also perform economical or financial operations abroad or foreign exchange operations.
The above-mentioned entities must report on a monthly basis to the Bank of Portugal the following information:
• Economical and financial operations abroad between residents and non-residents involving a value exchange or a transfer;
• Positions at the end of the period related to funds to receive and pay from or to foreign countries – except for banks;
• Operations abroad on behalf of resident clients;
• Operations on behalf of non-resident clients.
The report shall include information about the client’s identification, operation type, amount involved, currency used in the operation and country of payment.
The reports shall be submitted by electronic means using the BPnet System of the Bank of Portugal or the ‘company area’ of the Bank of Portugal website. In certain cases, the report may also be filed using other electronic means indicated by the Bank of Portugal.
All the reporting entities must appoint representatives (at least one effective and a surrogate) able to answer to eventual enquiries from the Bank of Portugal regarding the information reported. Among these representatives, one of them must be permanently available, or if this is not possible he/she shall be replaced.
This Instruction is complemented by the “Handbook of Proceedings of the Operations’ Statistics and the Positions with the Outside” (Manual de Procedimentos das Estatísticas de Operações e Posições com o Exterior). This handbook specifies the requirements of the reporting regulated in the Instruction and the elements intended to favour its fulfilment.
Failure to fulfil this Instruction is sanctioned with a penalty which may vary between €5,000 and €25,000 for corporate entities, or €2,000 to €10,000 for individuals.
The first report shall be filed by all entities (except banks) in January 2013, concerning the information of December 2012. The first report for the banks shall be filed in July 2013 concerning the information of June 2013.
This article has been submitted by Cláudia Vaz Póvoa and André Reis e Silva of Neville de Rougemont & Associados, R.L.
