Transferring Funds Under TTAs That Are Not Registered Is Illegal- Central Bank Of Ghana Warns -

Authorities of the Central Bank of Ghana has advised business banks against the transfer of funds abroad under the Technology Transfer Agreement (TTA) if the agreement was not enlisted as per the GIPC Act 2013 (Act 865).

As per the Chief Manager of the Banking Supervision department at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Mr Philip Danso, any funds transferred under TTAs that were not enlisted would draw in sanctions when proof of such exchanges are not proven.

If any TTA isn’t lawfully registered, it will pull in appropriate sanctions. The criminal code clarifies a wrongdoing as any conduct that draws in a penalty of death, punishment or a fine — and once the GIPC Act has accommodated a fine for TTAs that are not enlisted.

Under GIPC enactment, a TTA alludes to an agreement between an organization in Ghana (Transferee) and an organization outside Ghana related or non-related (Transferor) for a term of an underlying year and a half to 10 years and was inexhaustible for 18months to 5 years.

The agreement involves assignment, sale and licensing of all forms of industrial property such as patents, industrial designs, trademarks or the provision of technical expertise by a foreign company to a local based company.

It also involves the provision of managerial services and know-how such as information, data whether patentable or not including technical or commercial information relating to research, design, development manufacture, use or sale and personnel training.

BoG says transactions made under the TTAs that were not enrolled become a road for tax evasion, and could also work with capital trip since it would not be caught in any registered concurrence with the GIPC.

Banks that engage such transactions would accordingly be punished by the Central Bank.

Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) is mandated under Act 865 to register, monitor and keep records of all TTAs of enterprises operating in the country. Consequently any organization who spurn the demonstration is equivalent to sanctions.

That said, organizations with TTAs covering all areas of the economy, including those with sector specific controllers were to present their TTA to the GIPC for investigation.

This is pertinent even to organizations with controllers like banks which work under the BoG, Telcos under the National Communications Authority (NCA), mines under the Minerals Commission, oil organizations under the Petroleum Commission and insurance agencies under the National Insurance Authority (NIA).

In any case, all services to be moved into the country under a TTA should not be accessible in the country at the hour of the arrangement.

It also states that the law governing the transaction will be the Ghana law, while taxes on royalties will be payable by the transferor.