PROMOTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

Decree 1331/96

Amend some regulations adopted by Decree No. 508/92.

Bs. As., 25/11/96

VISTO file No. 180/95 of the registration of the SECRETARIAT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, then dependent on the NATIONAL PRESIDENCE, and Law No. 23.877 on the Promotion and Promotion of Technological Innovation and its Regulatory Decree No. 508 of 26 March 1992; and

CONSIDERING:

It is desirable to modify some of the regulations on the basis of the experience accumulated during the period of operation of the promotional regime that the mention law institutes.

It is also advisable to adjust the operating regime of the Fund for the Promotion and Promotion of Technological Innovation.

That the present decree is issued under the provisions of Article 99(2) of the NATIONAL CONSTITUTION.

Therefore,

THE PRESIDENT OF THE ARGENTINA NATION

RIGHT:

Article 1 - Replace Annex I to Decree No. 508 of 26 March 1992 with Annex I to the present.

Art. 2o - This decree shall enter into force on the day after its publication in the Official Gazette.

Art. 3o - Contact, post, give to the National Directorate of the Official Register and archvese. - MENEM. - Jorge A. Rodriguez. - Susana B. Decibe. - Roque B. Fernández.



I. Promotional Incentive Beneficiaries

I.1. General provision

ARTICLE 1 - They may be beneficiaries of the promotional incentives established under Act No. 23,877, in accordance with the conditions laid down therein, in this regulation and in the complementary regulations issued by the National Implementation Authority:

(a) The Enabled Link Units and the National Universities (Act No. 24.521, ARTICLE 59 (e).

(b) Productive companies of goods and services, individually or constituting groupings of collaboration or transitory unions of companies, in the terms of Article 367 to 383 of Law No. 19.550, as amended by Law No. 22.903.

ARTICLE 2 - The promotional incentives established under Act No. 23.877 shall not be granted to legal persons who:

(1) Integrate their administration, representation or control bodies with one or more people than:

(a) They have been convicted of criminal offences against property or against the National, Provincial or Municipal Public Service.

(b) Be tried at criminal headquarters with pending case that may lead to conviction for any of the offences set out in the preceding paragraph.

(c) They have been punished with exoneration in the Public Service or national, provincial or municipal State agencies, unless they are rehabilitated.

(d) Be morbid debtors of the National, provincial or municipal Fisco in the terms of the respective legal rules, while in such a situation.

(e) The organs of administration, representation or control of legal persons benefiting from promotional incentives have been integrated if the promotion contract has been terminated, or whose qualification as a linking unit has expired, by firm act based on the misuse of the benefit consummated during its management, when the actions in which such a measure was taken result of its responsibility in the facts, for having taken part in the decision or not being opposed to it in due course, (5)

2. Having been a beneficiary of a promotional incentive, they would have incurred the termination of the promotional contract that would be imputable to them, as long as CINCO (5) years have elapsed from the fact that the declarative act of termination is firm.

ARTICLE 3o - For the purposes of Law No. 23,877 decentralised entities and deconcentrated agencies of the National Public Sector with specific functions in the execution of research and development activities, technical assistance and/or transmission of technology may, by resolution of the competent authorities according to their respective regimes:

(a) Create or hire properly empowered Link Units to facilitate their relations with the productive sector in the performance of those functions or for the administration of technological innovation projects with companies.

(b) To conclude partnerships with productive enterprises of goods and services for the implementation of technological innovation projects.

I.2. Technological Linking Units

ARTICLE 4o - The National Authority of Application, after verification of the concurrence of the ends of Article 7 of Law No. 23.877, shall grant the qualification as a unit of link:

(a) Legal persons constituted by the National State or any of its decentralized entities:

(b) Regularly constituted entities, irrespective of their legal nature, not covered by the preceding subparagraph, which demonstrate appropriateness for the administration and technological management for the purposes of Article 3 (d) of Law No. 23.877, by presenting the specific background of the entity, its partners and members of its administration, representation, control and advisory bodies.

ARTICLE 5o - The National Authority of Application will carry a record of the Enabled Link Units and an individual legajo that must contain its background, name of partners, members and authorities, benefits of Law No. 23.877 requested and granted, projects in which it participated and its results, as well as any other information that it deems relevant to the fulfillment of the purposes of Law No. 23.877.

ARTICLE 6 - The authorization of a Link Unit and its corresponding registration in the registry is extinguished by dissolution of the legal person authorized as such, or by expiration.

ARTICLE 7o - These are causes of the expiration of the habilitation and its registration in the registry:

(a) The loss of appropriateness in the case of article 4 (b) of the present article, which shall be proved by summary information provided by the implementing authority.

(b) The misuse of the benefits of Act No. 23,877, by deviation from the purpose in which its grant was founded and the serious or repeated non-compliance with the remaining emerging obligations of the promotional benefit, when the transgression is attributable to the Link Unit even if it is not the holder of the benefit.

ARTICLE 8 - The declarative act of extinction or expiration of the authorization of the Linking Unit shall be resorted to in the terms of Title VIII of the Regulation of Law No. 19,549 of Administrative Procedures, approved by Decree No. 1759/72 (t. 1991).

ARTICLE 9o - Without prejudice to the legal consequences of extinction and the expiration of the habilitation, these have the following specific effects:

(a) Prevent the granting of new benefits to projects in which the affected legal person participates and paralyses the realization of those granted and not perceived.

(b) Force the return of the balances of the benefits received by the affected legal person in his or her power.

(c) Do not relieve the legal person affected from the emerging obligations of the perceived benefits in respect of the completed stages and amounts executed.

ARTICLE 10. - The productive companies and the co-participant Link Units in the project not affected by the measure - which will be notified of the declarative administrative act of the extinction or expiration of the habilitation- may replace the legal person affected in the administration of the measure, in order to enable its initiation or continuation in its case.

They may also require them to the respective implementing authority that authorizes, in order to avoid the deletion of projects in implementation, the interim administration of profit resources to the company or Liaison Unit not affected by the measure.

ARTICLE 11. - They shall not be enabled as the Liaison Units to legal persons in any of the situations referred to in Article 2.

ARTICLE 12. - The performance and retribution of functions in the bodies of representation, administration, control and advice of the Liaison Units constituted or contracted by the National State or any of its decentralized entities shall be compatible with the performance of positions in the constituent or contracting entity or agency, unless they correspond to their higher level of conduct.

I.3. From companies

ARTICLE 13. - The National Implementation Authority shall determine the minimum requirements to be met by the departments or research and development groups that have, believe or conform the enterprises in the terms of Article 10, paragraph 2 (a), of Law No. 23.877. In no case shall the business organization units concerned with the quality control of production be regarded as such.

Recognition of the aptitude of such departments or research groups shall be requested from the corresponding enforcement authority by the interested companies accompanying the relevant background to the application of any of the benefits of Law No. 23.877, and their effects shall be limited to that benefit.

II. PROMOTIONAL BENEFITS

ARTICLE 14. - Companies, collaboration groups and linking units to apply for any of the benefits of Act No. 23,877, shall:

(a) Where appropriate, contract for collaboration or agreement between the business party and the research unit and/or Liaison Unit for the administration and management of the research and development project, technical assistance and/or technology transmission.

(b) The availability of human resources (researchers and technicians) and materials (infrastructure and equipment) necessary for the implementation of the project or, where appropriate, framework agreement and specific agreement, or commitment, conditioned or not to obtain the promotional benefit, subscribed to individuals or state or private institutions providing them.

The respective enforcement authority shall verify the adequacy of the content of these instruments to the requirements of Act No. 23.877 and of this regulation and, failing that, the application shall be dismissed.

ARTICLE 15. - The legal relations between the Link Units and the companies or parts of the collaboration groups entrusted to them the administration and management of a project of research and development, technical assistance and/or transmission of technology, for whose financing they request the promotional benefits of Law No. 23.877, may result from agreements constituting groups of collaboration or unions of transitory work of companies, or contracts of location of any other services.

Such contracts shall include:

(a) The individualization of the project and its financing.

(b) If agreed, participation in economic benefits arising from the exploitation of the eventual successful results of the project (industrial property rights licences, transfer of confidential technological knowledge, etc.), which correspond to the Link Units and other project management entities and agencies, to the researchers and technicians involved in their implementation, regardless of the legal relationships involved and to the private individuals or institutions providing the necessary human resources.

ARTICLE 16. - Where the human or material resources necessary for the implementation of a project for research and development, technical assistance and/or transmission of technology are provided in whole or in part by private or State research institutions, by contract or, where appropriate, by agreement-frame and specific agreement, of these instruments shall be:

(a) Provision and qualification of investigators, technicians and assistants that will affect the implementation of the project.

(b) Equipment and physical infrastructure to be affected, as well as the regime of its use.

(c) Tariffs to the institution for the impact of its human and material resources, the amount of which will include the total amount to be paid for awards or bonuses to the staff involved in the project, with more contributions and employer contributions, as well as the other direct and indirect costs resulting from the contribution of resources made.

(d) If agreed, the participation of the institution and its investigators and technicians involved in the implementation of the project in the economic benefits that, in terms of royalties for licences for industrial property rights, transfer of confidential technological knowledge, etc., derive from the exploitation of the eventual invention, discovery, improvement, etc., as a result of the project.

(e) Identification of the scientific-technological direction of the project.

ARTICLE 17. Any documentation relating to the scientific-technological content of a project of research and development, technical assistance and/or transmission of technology, or information that the parties concerned consider confidential, that is submitted to the respective authority of application with the request for the granting of the benefits of Law No. 23,877, as well as the progress and completion reports of the project, shall be reserved at the request of the parties, and only the parties concerned and the initial evaluation bodies shall be able to make progress. For this purpose, the reserved documentation will be presented in closed envelope, which will be broken down and recorded in the administrative performance and deposited in a safe box.

Following the final evaluation of the project ' s implementation, the reserved documentation will be delivered in custody to the interested parties, indicating their administrative performance and their obligation to retain it for a period not less than TEN (10) years. The documentation for projects that have not merited the granting of the requested benefits will be returned immediately to the interested parties on record in the respective actions.

ARTICLE 18. - Any application for the benefits set out in Act No. 23.877 must be accompanied by a technical evaluation of the respective project, carried out on behalf of the applicant, by professionals of the specialties in question, to which a synthesis of the background of the evaluators will be added.

ARTICLE 19. - The project evaluation system referred to in Article 9° "in fine" of Law No. 23.877 shall establish initial and auditing procedures for the project during its implementation and its completion, for which each project shall contain a specified full time-frame, established time frames or verification points, foreseeable budgets and risk estimation.

The evaluation system will also guarantee the interested companies the right to be heard prior to each advance or final evaluation, and can be represented for the purpose by UN (1) expert or consultant who designates its coast.

The fees of the members of the evaluation body shall be paid to the applicants for promotional benefits and their amounts shall be taken into account for the calculation of the total cost of the project.

III. RESOURCES AFFECTED TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW No. 23,877

ARTICLE 20. - In the determination of the percentages with which the projects for which the instruments of promotion of the Act No. 23,877, the principle of the shared cost shall be observed, not being able to exceed the promotional contribution of the State the OCHENTA BY CIENTO (80 %) of the total cost of the project if it is to be refundable even when the refund is contingent, and the CINCUENTA by I

ARTICLE 21. - No less than half of the resources to finance the benefits set out in Article 9 (b), (c) and (d) of Law No. 23,877, shall be applied to projects with favourable evaluation, in which micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are involved or are exclusively interested, provided that the amount of the approved benefits for such projects is equal to or greater than CINCUA per general available (50 %).

ARTICLE 22. - The resources of the Fund for the Promotion and Promotion of Innovation (ARTICULOs 12 and 13 of Act No. 23.877), as well as those resulting from the refunds of the promotional benefits granted by the application of the Act, its interests and other accessories, shall be incorporated annually as credits of a specific Budget Programme or Activity, whose opening shall be carried out in the jurisdiction of the National Authority of Application, and shall be assigned to the legal provisions of the 12

ARTICLE 23. - The contribution to the Fund for the Promotion and Promotion of Innovation set out in Article 8, paragraph 2 (b). of Law No. 23.877 shall be effected by the Linking Units and shall be calculated on the amount they receive during the calendar month for royalties for licenses of industrial property law and transfer of confidential technological knowledge derived from the exploitation of the results of projects executed under Law No. 23.877 in which they have participated.

ARTICLE 24. - Please provide the National Implementation Authority with the resources of the Fund for the Promotion and Promotion of Innovation to establish a Trust Fund for Technological Development and to conclude the corresponding trust contract with an official financial entity, which will act as a financial agent.

ARTICLE 25. Payment Orders from the budgetary provisions referred to in Article 24 shall be issued by the National Implementation Authority through the relevant Financial Administrative Service.

Where such orders affect the liquota referred to in Article 19, paragraph (a) of Law No. 23.877, they shall be issued in favour of the holders of the agreed promotional benefits, in accordance with the provisions of the respective promotion contract and upon certification of the cash disbursement of contributions to the total budget of the project in the proportion to which the beneficiaries have been obliged.

Where the liquors referred to in Article 19, subparagraph (b) and 20 of Act No. 23,877, are affected, they shall be issued in favour of the local jurisdiction granting the benefit for the total amount of contractually committed disbursements to be made during the budget period. The Provinces and the CIUDAD DE BUENOS AIRES will request the National Authority of Application to issue these Payment Orders by accompanying a certified copy by the Local Authority of Application of the Resolution Act granting the benefit, of the opinion of the Local Advisory Council, of the signed promotion contract and supplementary documentation essential to establish the rights and obligations arising therefrom and the status of its compliance.

The issuance of the Payment Orders shall be made within the aggregate commitment and accrual quotas authorized for each quarter, in the order indicating the date of entry of the application with all its priors.

ARTICLE 26. - The Provinces and the CIUDAD DE BUENOS AIRES shall request the National Authority of Application the reserve of budgetary credit from the respective alicuota before the subscription of each promotion contract, accompanying a copy, certified by the Local Authority of Application of Law No. 23.877, of the resolutive act of granting the promotional benefit conditioned to the effective availability of funds and with details of beneficiary, amount and benefit of the regulatory

ARTICLE 27. - The National Implementation Authority may reassign unencumbered credit balances as at 30 September each year in favour of the enforcement jurisdictions of Act No. 23,877 that are in a position to award and liquidate promotional benefits in amounts exceeding their respective liquors.

The reassignment of unencumbered credit balances will be carried out by observing the criterion of proportional equity between the different jurisdictions and giving priority to the requirements of local jurisdictions for those of the National Implementation Authority.

ARTICLE 28. The amount of tax credits referred to in Article 9 (b) of Law No. 23.877 shall be fixed annually from the date on which the state of emergency of the national State ' s finances is exceeded.

IV. OF THE ADHESION TO LAW No. 23,877

ARTICLE 29. Adherence to Act No. 23.877 of the Provinces and CIUDAD OF BUENOS AIRES, under the terms of Article 18 of that legal body imports adherence to its regulatory and complementary standards.

V. INFORMATION AND COORDINATION OF ACTIONS BETWEEN IMPLEMENTATION AUTHORITIES

ARTICLE 30. The National and Local Authorities shall, without prejudice to their powers in the implementation of Act No. 23,877, coordinate with each other their respective actions in the field and remain permanently and mutually informed of their development. To this end, and without prejudice to the mechanisms available for this purpose, at least UNA (1) will meet once a year.

In particular, the Local Implementation Authorities will report to the National Authority on a regular basis and, at least once a year, within the NOVENTA (90) days following the completion of each budget period, the technological innovation projects for which the implementation of which benefits have been granted from the Consultative Law No. 23.877, its status of progress and, where appropriate, the results obtained, as well as the projects presented to opt for a promotional benefit that are in the process.

VI. OF CONSULTIVE COUNCILS

ARTICLE 31. - The incumbent members and their respective alters of the Consultative Council for the Promotion and Promotion of Innovation will last DOS (2) years in their functions and will be renewed by halves.

ARTICLE 32. - The representation of the Link Units referred to in Article 17, paragraph (j) of Law No. 23.877 shall be designated, on the proposal of the Enabled Link Units, through the mechanism established by the National Implementation Authority.

ARTICLE 33. - The representation of the adhering provinces established by Article 17, paragraph (c) of Law No. 23.877, shall be agreed upon by them at the annual meeting of the Implementing Authorities referred to in Article 30 of this regulation.

ARTICLE 34. - The representation of the productive trade union organizations set out in Article 17 (k) of Law No. 23.877 shall be exercised by DOS (2) representatives and their respective trades in the industrial sector and so on in the agricultural sector.

The representatives of the industrial sector shall be appointed on the proposal of the INDUSTRIAL UNION ARGENTINA (U.I.A.) and the General Confederation of the INDUSTRIA (C.G.I.) at the basis of UN (1) holder and UN (1) alternate for each entity.

Representatives of the agricultural sector will be appointed rotatively, for annual periods, on the proposal of RURIAL CONFEDERATIONS ARGENTINA (CRA), INTERCOPERATIVA AGROPECUARIA COOPERATIVA LIMITADA (CONINAGRO), SOCIEDAD RURAL ARGENTINA (SRA) and the AGRARIA ARGENTINA (FAA) FEDERATION in the following manner:

In the first period, they will be represented by agro-institutions, as incumbent members, ARGENTINA RURAL CONFEDERATIONS (CRA) and AGREED COOPERATIVATIVE CONFEDERATION (CONINAGRO) as the RURAL ARGENTINA SOCIEDAD (SRA) and the AGRARIA ARGENTINA FEDERATION (FAA), respectively. In the second period, the representatives of these will be held as headlines and those of them as alternates and so on.

ARTICLE 35. - It is the exclusive faculty of the Provinces and the CIUDAD DE BUENOS AIRES to resolve the form of integration of the local Consultative Council in accordance with the principle of sectoral representation adopted by Article 17 of Law No. 23.877, the designation of its members and the regime of its functioning.

ARTICLE 36. - The members of the Consultative Council for the Promotion and Promotion of Innovation and of the Advisory Councils of the local jurisdictions referred to in Article 21 of Law No. 23.877, shall refrain from intervening, under the penalty of absolute nullity of the proceedings and, where appropriate, of the administrative sanctions that may correspond, in the process - according to their respective competences- of the promotion of the units concerned, of the participation of the companies

ARTICLE 37. - Those who work in the Permanent Secretariat of the Consultative Council for the Promotion and Promotion of Innovation and in their equivalents in local jurisdictions should be excused from intervening in any formalities or management in which their actions may result in bias or moral violence, and may not:

(a) To carry out or sponsor third parties, administrative procedures or arrangements relating to the implementation of Act No. 23,877, which are or are not directly in charge.

(b) To direct, administer, advise, sponsor, represent or provide remunerated services to persons of visible or legal existence, who manage or have obtained promotional benefits from Act No. 23,877, or to enable them as or from suppliers or contractors.

(c) To receive directly or indirectly benefits or benefits arising from the promotional regime of Act No. 23,877 or on the basis of its application.

VII. COMPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 38. - Refer to the National Authority for Implementation the authority to issue the rules of operation of the Advisory Council for the Promotion and Promotion of Innovation and to designate its members and their respective alternates, in the terms of Article 17 of Law No. 23.877.

ARTICLE 39. - The National Implementation Authority shall issue the supplementary rules to ensure compliance with Act No. 23,877 and the present regulations, including the specificities of the Provinces and the CIUDAD DE BUENOS AIRES.

VIII. TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 40. Within the TREINTA (30) days following the publication of the present regulation, the bodies, entities and sectors referred to in Article 17 of Law No. 23.877, propose representatives for appointment as members of the Advisory Council for the Promotion and Promotion of Innovation.

ARTICLE 41. - The Provinces and the CIUDAD DE BUENOS AIRES may not require the issuance of Payment Orders from the budgetary provisions for the implementation of Act No. 23.877 for the Exercise 1996 and subsequent without prior accreditation to the National Implementation Authority to have exhausted the amounts received in the form of licuots for the Exercises 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995, by means of the presentation certified by the Tribunal of Accounts.