Key Benefits:
DECREE NO. 4,133, OF February 14, 2002.
Promulga the Framework Agreement for Financial Cooperation between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Nordic Investment Bank, concluded in Helsinki, on September 17, 1999.
The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, in the use of the assignment that gives him the art. 84, inciso VIII, of the Constitution,
Whereas the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Nordic Investment Bank celebrated, in Helsinki, on September 17, 1999, a Framework Agreement for Financial Cooperation;
Whereas the National Congress has approved this Agreement through Legislative Decree no 440, of November 8, 200l;
Whereas the Agreement entered into force on November 19, 2001;
DECRETA:
Art. 1o The Framework Agreement for Financial Cooperation between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Nordic Investment Bank, concluded in Helsinki, on September 17, 1999, apensed by copy to the present Decree, will be executed and fulfilled as entirely as it contains.
Art. 2o Are subject to the approval of the National Congress any acts that amend the said Agreement, as well as any further adjustments that, pursuant to art. 49, inciso I, of the Federal Constitution, carries gravy charges or commitments to the national heritage.
Art. 3o This Decree takes effect on the date of its publication.
Brasilia, 14 of February 2002; 181o of Independence and 114o of the Republic.
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO
Celso Lafer
Agreement Framework for Financial Cooperation between the Federative Republic of the
Brazil and the Nordic Investment Bank
The present Agreement is concluded between the Federative Republic of Brazil, represented by Ambassador José Olympio Rache de Almeida, Ambassador of Brazil to the Republic of Finland, hereinafter referred to as "Brazil", first outwardant,
and
The Nordic Investment Bank, based at number 34 of the Fabianinkatu in Helsinki, Finland, represented by Lars-Åke Olsson, Vice-President, hereinafter referred to as the "Bank", second outward-looking,
(henceforth called by "Contracting Parties"),
Considering:
A. That the Bank is an organization of public international law created by international treaty on December 4, 1975 as a multilateral financial institution by the five Nordic countries (Kingdom of Denmark, Republic of Finland, Republic of Iceland, Kingdom of Norway and the Kingdom of Sweden);
B. That Brazil and the Bank wish to establish the foundations of long-term cooperation in the use of the financing made available by the Bank for projects of interest from Brazil and the Nordic countries; and
C. That, in order for that goal to be achieved, it is necessary to be established the rules under which the Bank will operate in Brazil,
The Contracting Parties decide to formalize the following Agreement:
Article 1º
Loans granted pursuant to this Agreement shall be aimed at the partial financing of investment projects located in the Brazilian territory, which meet the criteria normally applied by the Bank in its operations in charge of own resources, and it should be understood that projects promoted by public sector entities will be presented to the Bank by the competent authorities of the Federal Government of Brazil.
Article 2º
The Bank will decide on the admissibility of the projects and on the granting of the loans in the light of the norms, conditions and procedures set out in the your Statutes.
Article 3º
Loans granted by the Bank will be subject, in that it touches upon the respective terms and deadlines, to conditions set forth on the basis of in the economic and financial characteristics of the projects; the interest rate and the guarantee shall be determined by the Bank, in accordance with its usual practice, without prejudice to the prior submission to the Central Bank of Brazil, by the potential beneficiaries of the loans, of their respective financial and term conditions, in the form of the Brazilian legislation.
Article 4º
The loans granted by the Bank with views to realization of projects will be able to repurpose the form of co-financing, in particular, with the participation of credit and development bodies and institutions of Brazil, bodies and credit institutions of the Bank's Member States, or of Third States, or even from international financial institutions.
Article 5º
Have access to the financing contemplated in this Agreement the persons legal of Brazilian public law as well as the mixed-economy societies, public companies and public foundations linked to the Union, the states and the Municipalities of Brazil, and still all private companies constituted under the laws of Brazil, regardless of whether or not they have foreign capital participation.
Article 6º
The execution, supervision and maintenance of the projects financed in the the scope of this Agreement will be the responsibility of the final beneficiaries of the loans. The financial execution of the projects financed by the Bank, contracted or guaranteed by Brazil, will be the object of audits carried out by the competent authorities of the Federal Government.
Article 7º
A. Participation in public tenders or any procedures aiming at the award of contracts for the supply of goods and services and execution of works shall comply with the principle of free competition, in accordance with the usual practice of the Bank and with the legislative provisions in force in Brazil.
B. The Bank and Brazilian entities that benefit from the Bank's financing will receive an investment protection treatment no less favorable than that available in the current Brazilian legislation, or in any bilateral protection agreement of investments entered into by Brazil.
Article 8º
Interest and too much payments due to the Bank by virtue of the loans granted under this Agreement and of the respective guarantees will be exempt from the incidence of any taxes, fees or charges of any nature provided for in the Brazilian legal planning, provided that the member countries of the Bank, including that of its registered office, also grant equal benefit.
Article 9º
Brazil obliges, for the entire duration of the loans granted, to:
a) provide to borrowers beneficiaries of the mentioned loans and their guarantors foreign exchange required for the payment of principal, interest, commissions and the other charges, in the form of the Brazilian legislation and, in any case, give a treatment not less favourable than that given to payments made to other multilateral financial institutions;
b) to provide the Bank with the foreign exchange required for the conversion of all the importancies that this may have received in currency national, in the form of the Brazilian legislation and, in any case, give a treatment no less favourable than that given to other multilateral financial institutions.
Article 10
With views meeting its objectives, the Bank shall enjoy in Brazil of the widest legal capacity that national law assigns to legal persons of public international law, and may conclude contracts, acquire or divest movable and immovable property and participate and be a party to lawsuits, in the limits permitted by Brazilian legislation.
Article 11
A. The employees and agents of the Bank who do not have the Brazilian nationality or permanent residence in the country shall enjoy, in the performance of duties related to the implementation of this Agreement and in the places where they should perform such duties, of immunity in the face of lawsuits and administrative proceedings regarding acts by themselves practiced in the exercise and because of the exercise of their official duties, unless the Bank waive that immunity.
B. Employees and agents of the Bank who do not have the Brazilian nationality nor permanent residence in the country disbasement of temporary category I visas, by the term of two renewable years, submitted to the existing legal rules as to record.
Article 12
A. Any dispute between Brazil and the Bank, arising from this Agreement, which is not resolved by mutual agreement between the Contracting Parties, shall be definitively resolved by means of an arbitral procedure, which shall follow the rules of the Commission of the United Nations for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), with the exception of art. 26, by carrying out the choice of arbitrators as shown below.
a) Brazil and the Bank shall each choose, each, an arbitrator and these arbitrators choose, together and by common agreement, the third;
b) case the arbitrators chosen by Brazil and by the Bank do not reach an agreement on the third arbitrator, this will be defined by UNCITRAL.
B. The arbitration will give itself in Brasilia (DF), Brazil, and the procedures will be in English language. The Contracting Parties agree to accept and submit to any decision taken by the Court of Arbitration.
Article 13
A. This Agreement shall cease to invigorate when the Contracting Parties, by mutual agreement, decide to give it by terminated or when one of them denounces it in accordance with paragraph B of this Article. In any case, however, the provisions of this Agreement shall remain in force with respect to the financing transactions formalized before the date on which by mutual agreement or by unilateral denunciation, the decision to terminate it shall be taken, as long as they are not fully settled all the amounts due under the respective financing contracts.
B. Any of the Contracting Parties may unilaterally denounce the present Agreement. In such a case, and without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the denunciation shall take effect 90 (ninety) days after the date of its notification, in writing and by diplomatic way, to the other Contracting Party.
Article 14
A. This Agreement shall enter into force on the date on which Brazil shall communicate, by diplomatic means, to the Bank that all the internal legal formalities necessary for the full duration of international acts are fulfilled.
B. In this Agreement it is attached to the following Annex:
ANNEX A
Delegation of Powers
The present Agreement was celebrated, initialed and signed in two originals in Portuguese language, being all equally authentic. Each page of each original copy of this document has been signed by Mr. Lars-Åke Olsson, on the part of the Bank, and by Ambassador José Olympio Rache de Almeida, on the part of Brazil.
Helsinki, on September 17, 1999.
Federative Republic of Brazil
José Olympio Rache de Almeida
Nordic Investment Bank Lars-Åke Olsson
By Power of Attorney
