For the purpose of applying this Regulation, the following shall be understood as:
A. Abbreviations.
BP: Banco Popular y de Desarrollo Comunal.
B.N.C.R.: Banco Nacional de Costa Rica.
SINGLE TREASURY (CAJA ÚNICA): Common fund, administered by the National Treasury, into which all resources that the Government of the Republic receives enter, whatever their source may be, and against which the obligations that its organs or entities have legally contracted are paid, or the resources are transferred so that they make the corresponding payments.
CANAPALMA: Cámara Nacional de Productores de Palma.
CIFOPALMA: Comisión Interinstitucional para el Fomento y Cultivo de la Palma Aceitera.
TRUST No. 955 Ministerio de Hacienda-Banco Nacional de Costa Rica: Fideicomiso.
INDER: Instituto de Desarrollo Rural.
INA: Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje.
INTA: Instituto Nacional de Innovación y Transferencia en Tecnología Agropecuaria.
MAG: Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería.
MEIC: Ministerio de Economía Industria y Comercio.
MEP: Ministerio de Educación Pública.
MICITT: Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones.
MIDEPLAN: Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica.
MINAE: Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía.
NAMA: Acción de Mitigación Nacionalmente Apropiada, from its English acronym.
ONS: Oficina Nacional de Semillas.
PITTA: Programa de Investigación y Transferencia Tecnología Agropecuaria.
PYMPA: Sistema de Registro del Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería para Certificar la condición de Pequeño y Mediano Productor Agropecuario.
SUGESE: Súper Intendencia General de Seguros.
SBD: Sistema Banca para el Desarrollo.
SENARA: Servicio Nacional de Aguas Subterráneas Riego y Avenamiento.
SFE: Servicio Fitosanitario del Estado.
SUGEF: Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras.
OTC: Órgano Técnico de CIFOPALMA.
B. Definitions.
1. CREDITOR (ACREEDOR): Natural or legal person with whom a debt has been contracted.
2. ADJUSTMENTS (ADECUACIONES): Correspond to the variations made to the credit with respect to the originally agreed conditions, for the first time, to guarantee compliance with the cancellation of the credit derived from the oil palm activity.
3. AGRICULTURAL SERVICE AGENCIES OF THE MAG (AGENCIAS DE SERVICIOS AGROPECUARIOS DEL MAG): Understood as Agricultural Extension Agencies (Agencias de Extensión Agropecuaria). Bodies to support and direct the agricultural extension service at the local level, through the attention of producers, their families, organizations, and the integration and intervention of other institutional and private entities of the agricultural sector and the local and territorial sphere.
4. BANK AGENCIES AND BRANCHES (AGENCIAS Y SUCURSALES BANCARIAS): Are the dependencies of the trustee that will offer credit service and other banking services to the trust.
5. AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE (AGROEMPRESA): It is a decision-making unit that combines elements of diverse nature applied to the production of goods or services of agricultural origin linked to human consumption or for animal feed.
6. PRECISION AGRICULTURE (AGRICULTURA DE PRECISIÓN): Is a management strategy that collects, processes, and analyzes data, spatial and individual, and combines them with other information to support management decisions according to the estimated variability, and thus improve the efficiency in resource use, the productivity, the quality, the profitability, and the sustainability of oil palm production.
7. PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS (ARREGLOS DE PAGO): It is the payment proposal that natural or legal persons who are debtors of the trust jointly agree upon with the trustee, to pay within the time agreed by both, in monthly and consecutive installments for the benefit and agreement of both parties.
8. ENDORSEMENT (AVAL): Financial instrument created to support credit operations as collateral guarantee, in which there is a guarantor-endorser. These guarantees mitigate the risks associated with a credit operation, thereby assuming the usual losses in payment defaults. Which applies when there is no coverage of 100% of the real guarantee and is the responsibility of a guarantor. It is understood that every endorsement (aval) is direct and that this term is synonymous with guarantor (fiador).
9. SECOND-TIER BANKING (BANCA DE SEGUNDO PISO): Financial entity that does not deal directly with the users of the credits (second order) but rather make the channeling of resources to producers, aimed at the renewal, maintenance, and complementary investments necessary in the cultivation of oil palm.
10. BENEFICIARY (BENEFICIARIO): Natural or legal person who receives loans from the Trust fund. Potential beneficiaries of the Trust will be all those small and medium producers of the oil palm activity who are located in the zones where oil palm is cultivated.
11. GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES (BUENAS PRÁCTICAS AGRÍCOLAS): Is the set of agronomic management conditions necessary to ensure the sustainability of the palm activity and provide consumers with a healthier and safer food product, which reduces the risks of physical, chemical, and microbiological contamination, contemplating practices aimed at protecting the environment and the working conditions of workers.
12. BIOSTIMULANT (BIOESTIMULANTE): Formulation of biological origin for agricultural use that promotes improvements in the productivity of a crop.
13. CLIMATE CHANGE (CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO): Understood as a change of climate attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that adds to the natural climate variability observed during comparable periods of time.
14. TRAINING (CAPACITACIÓN): Structured and organized process of a short-term educational process, through which the acquisition, development, and updating of knowledge, attitudes, and skills are facilitated, so that the beneficiaries satisfactorily carry out the development of the palm activity.
15. WORKING CAPITAL (CAPITAL DE TRABAJO): Necessary amount of financial resources, so that a small and medium oil palm producer can carry out their operations normally, as a result of the effects on oil palm production, duly documented and officially certified by the competent entities. The foregoing is subject to the availability of economic content in the trust budget to support this item.
16. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS (COSTOS DE ADMINISTRACIÓN): Cost of the fees of the trustee.
17. PRODUCTION COSTS (COSTOS DE PRODUCCIÓN): Costs required to develop the productive activity of oil palm, such as inputs, labor, transportation, equipment, and materials.
18. CREDIT (CRÉDITO): Contract by which a natural or legal person temporarily obtains a sum of money from another, in exchange for a remuneration in interest and the repayment of the principal amount.
19. DAILION IN PAYMENT (DACIÓN DE PAGO): Act by which the debtor substitutes the original provision (good) that was offered as a guarantee to the creditor (according to prior consent) as part of the total or partial cancellation of the debt. The original guarantee offered is the one that will be presented in the act of dación de pago.
20. DISBURSEMENTS (DESEMBOLSOS): Action of paying or delivering a sum of money through the mechanisms in force by the creditor.
21. DEBT (DEUDA): Obligation that a natural or legal person has to pay a certain amount of money, according to the terms agreed in a contract.
22. DEBTOR (DEUDOR): Natural or legal person who has a debt with another and the obligation to fulfill it in the terms and conditions agreed.
23. ENTREPRENEURSHIP (EMPRENDEDURISMO): Process in which a person converts an idea into a concrete project.
24. SOIL AMENDMENT (ENMIENDA): Product for agricultural use with potential to improve soil and promote an increase in crop productivity.
25. EQUIPMENT, TOOLS, AND MACHINERY FOR PRECISION AGRICULTURE (EQUIPOS, HERRAMIENTAS Y MAQUINARIA PARA AGRICULTURA DE PRECISIÓN): Set of instruments for the increase of efficiency in resource use, which allow improving the productivity, quality, profitability, and sustainability of oil palm production.
26. ESTABLISHMENT (ESTABLECIMIENTO): Refers to a new activity or planting in the cultivation of palm on land suitable for the development thereof.
27. AGRONOMIC FACTORS (FACTORES AGRONÓMICOS): Are the agroecological elements that contribute to carrying out oil palm production at the level of soil, plant, atmosphere, and agronomic management.
28. CLIMATIC FACTORS (FACTORES CLIMÁTICOS): Are climatic elements that vary from one zone to another depending on several factors, such as latitude, prevailing winds, marine currents, distance to the sea, altitude, and relief; which modify, accentuate, or limit the elements of the climate and give rise to climatic variations.
29. EDAPHIC FACTORS (FACTORES EDÁFICOS): Condition of the soil, whether physical, biological, or chemical, that influences the processes of this natural resource.
30. TRUST BENEFICIARIES (FIDEICOMISARIOS): Shall be all those natural and legal persons who qualify within this Trust as beneficiaries.
31. TRUST No. 955 (FIDEICOMISO N° 955): Contract signed between the Ministry of Finance and the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica, its addenda under the protection of Law No. 8868 and its current reform with Law No. 9817.
32. SETTLOR (FIDEICOMITENTE): Ministry of Finance.
33. TRUSTEE (FIDUCIARIO): Banco Nacional de Costa Rica.
34. ENTERPRISE FINANCING (FINANCIAMIENTO EMPRESARIAL): Facilitation of resources directed to producers who promote the production of goods or services for exchange, generally for economic and commercial purposes, linked to oil palm.
35. STRENGTHENING (FORTALECIMIENTO): Set of activities that seek to improve the competitiveness of the productive sector of oil palm.
36. GUARANTEES (GARANTÍAS): Are the mechanisms that respond proportionally to the contribution of each one of the creditors, to ensure compliance with an obligation.
37. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT (IMPACTO AMBIENTAL): Also known as anthropic impact or anthropogenic impact, it is the alteration or modification that a human action causes on the environment.
38. INNOVATION (INNOVACIÓN): Any change that promotes an improvement or adaptation.
39. TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION (INNOVACIÓN TECNOLÓGICA): Refers to the introduction of new technologies and services, new processes, new sources of supply, and changes in the industrial organization, which promote an improvement in the productive process, competitiveness, and services directed to consumers.
40. RESEARCH (INVESTIGACIÓN): Activity oriented towards obtaining new knowledge and its application for the solution to problems or questions of a scientific and academic nature.
41. SMALL MACHINERY (MAQUINARIA MENOR): Fuel-powered utensil that requires low power for its operation (less than 90 horsepower/HP), which can be used for agricultural purposes in tasks of: drainage, soil tillage, transport of the harvest, movement of materials, and for the operation of implements that are activated by coupling to a power take-off.
42. MEDIUM PRODUCER (MEDIANO(A) PRODUCTOR(A)): Natural or legal person, whose properties for agricultural use destined for the production of oil palm (includes nurseries) have a declared area range with values greater than 15 and equal to or less than 100 hectares, according to conditions determined by CIFOPALMA. In the case of self-management organizations, the values of the area parameters are divided by the number of members of each cooperative.
43. CURRENCY (MONEDA): For the purposes of this Trust, the currency used is the Costa Rican colón (?).
44. MUNICIPALITY (MUNICIPALIDAD): State legal person with its own assets, personality, and full legal capacity to execute all types of acts and contracts necessary to fulfill its purposes.
45. LIST OF SMALL AND MEDIUM PRODUCERS REGISTERED IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK (NÓMINA DE PEQUEÑOS Y MEDIANOS PRODUCTORES REGISTRADOS EN EL MINISTERIO DE AGRICULTURA Y GANADERÍA): It is the "Sistema de Registro del Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería, para Certificar la condición de pequeño y mediano productor agropecuario (PYMPA)", according to Executive Decree No. 37911- MAG of August 19, 2013, published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta, No. 177 of September 16, 2013.
46. NOVATION OF DEBTOR (NOVACION DE DEUDOR): Consists of the substitution of the original debtor by a third party that assumes one or several obligations of the first, with the express consent of the creditor.
47. ASSOCIATIVE ORGANIZATION (ORGANIZACIÓN ASOCIATIVA): Is that organization with lawful purposes that does not have profit or gain as its sole and exclusive object. For the purposes of this regulation, the methodology defined by MEIC to define SME will be used, whose calculation will be made in accordance with the number of members and not employees, as described: Small: According to MEIC methodology, the result of its calculation is less than 35. Medium: According to MEIC methodology, the result of its calculation is between 35 and 100. Large: According to MEIC methodology, the result of its calculation is greater than 100.
48. PARTIAL PAYMENTS (PAGOS PARCIALES): Payments in installments that the client can make independently of the condition of the credit operation (past due or up to date).
49. PALM GROWER (PALMICULTOR): That natural or legal person who is engaged or will be engaged in the productive activity of oil palm.
50. PALM KERNEL AND ITS FRACTIONS (PALMISTE Y SUS FRACCIONES): Oil palm oil extracted from the biological seed of the oil palm fruit. It has a liquid phase and a solid phase, its fractions are Palm Kernel Stearin and Palm Kernel Olein.
51. SMALL PRODUCER (PEQUEÑO(A) PRODUCTOR(A)): Natural or legal person, whose properties for agricultural use destined for the production of oil palm (includes nurseries), have a range of declared area with values equal to or less than 15 hectares, according to conditions determined by CIFOPALMA. In the case of self-management organizations, the values of the area parameters are divided by the number of members of each cooperative.
52. PAYMENT FREQUENCY (PERIODICIDAD DE PAGO): Is the agreement made by the parties to make the payments (monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, semiannually, annually, or at maturity), the form of payment (in advance or in arrears), the modality (fixed or adjustable).
53. GRACE PERIOD (PERIODO DE GRACIA): Term in which an interval of time is given during which there is no obligation to pay installments toward the principal of the loan.
54. NATURAL PERSON (PERSONA FÍSICA): Individual who serves as the center of imputation of legal situations and therefore, is a subject with rights and obligations.
55. LEGAL PERSON (PERSONA JURIDICA): Organized complex of persons and assets to which the law recognizes legal personality directed at the purpose of supporting the palm activity.
56. NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN (PLAN NACIONAL DE DESARROLLO): Strategy designed by the Government of Costa Rica to address national challenges, take advantage of current opportunities, and reactivate the country's economy, with the main objective of promoting national progress and increasing the well-being of all Costa Ricans.
57. PLANTATION (PLANTACIÓN): Area dedicated to the cultivation of oil palms.
58. PLEDGE (PRENDA): Contract and in rem right over a movable good that guarantees compliance with an obligation, registered before the Public Property Registry, which is materialized through an executory process before a court.
59. LOAN (PRÉSTAMO): Credit operation, in which the trustee makes disbursements from the trust fund to a beneficiary, who undertakes to return the capital lent and the interest, within the terms and conditions agreed between both parties.
60. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY (POLÍTICA AMBIENTAL): Governmental and private actions for the development of objectives with purposes to improve the environment, conserve the natural principles of human life, and foster sustainable development.
61. POLICIES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE TRUST (POLÍTICAS PARA LA ADMINISTRACIÓN DEL FIDEICOMISO): Decision-making process that CIFOPALMA establishes for the administration of the Trust.
62. INSURANCE POLICY (PÓLIZA): Insurance contract to reduce the risk of payment default.
63. FINAL OIL PALM PRODUCT (PRODUCTO FINAL DE PALMA ACEITERA): Oil derived from the oil palm fruit, both from the mesocarp and the endocarp.
64. EXTENSIONS TO THE GRACE PERIOD (PRÓRROGAS AL PERIODO DE GRACIA): Correspond to the extension or variation of the term of the payment grace period for the principal, determined in the corresponding legal document. The originally agreed conditions of the credit will be maintained the same.
65. PROJECT (PROYECTO): Innovative task that involves a series or an ordered set of background information, studies, and activities planned and related to each other, which require the decision on the use of resources aimed at achieving defined objectives, in a certain period, in a delimited geographical zone, and for a group of beneficiaries, solving problems or satisfying a need.
66. FORECLOSURE AUCTION (REMATE DE BIENES): Process that will begin once the good that was held in guarantee is awarded.
67. ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY (RESPONSABILIDAD AMBIENTAL): It is a legal term referring to the imputability of valuing a negative or positive action that generates an impact of the palm activity on the environment.
68. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY (RESPONSABILIDAD EMPRESARIAL): Are the responsibility actions that each organization has with its environment, defined as the active and voluntary contribution to social, economic, and environmental improvement by companies, generally with the objective of improving their competitive situation, valuation, and their added value.
69. RATE REVIEW (REVISIÓN DE TASA): Assessment and authorization of changes in the interest rate, in accordance with the behavior of the market and the situation of international and national prices by CIFOPALMA.
70. READJUSTMENTS (READECUACIONES): Reclassification of the credit operation as a special operation, for a maximum of three times, to guarantee compliance with the cancellation of the credit derived from the oil palm activity; which also applies to portfolio purchases.
71. ADJUSTMENT OF DEBT PAYMENT (REAJUSTE DE PAGO DE DEUDA): Are the new conditions in the payment of the principal obligation, the interest rate, and the term agreed between the parties.
72. REDUCTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT (REDUCCIÓN DE IMPACTO AMBIENTAL): To lessen the effect that human activity produces on the environment.
73. YIELDS (RENDIMIENTOS): Productivity per unit area in a given period of time.
74. RENEWAL (RENOVACIÓN): Action of replanting the perennial oil palm crop due to its impossibility of harvesting, which occurs in response to the height of the plant when it reaches the end of its productive cycle, or due to fortuitous event or force majeure.
75. REPLANTING (REPLANTACIONES): Action or effect of planting again in the case of plant losses due to disease or pests in the first, second, or third year on an established farm.
76. NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM (SISTEMA BANCARIO NACIONAL): Set of financial institutions or banking entities related to the national economy, which collaborates in the execution of monetary, credit, savings, and investment policy and -when the entity is state-owned- in the custody and administration of the banking deposits of the community. The National Banking System is composed of the Banco Central de Costa Rica, Banco Nacional de Costa Rica, Banco de Costa Rica, Banco Popular, and the private commercial banks, established and administered in accordance with Law No. 1644, Organic Law of the National Banking System.
77. COMMERCIAL COMPANIES (SOCIEDADES MERCANTILES): Is the legal person whose purpose is to carry out acts of commerce in exchange for profit or gain. For the purposes of this regulation, the methodology defined by MEIC to define SME will be used, whose calculation will be made in accordance with the number of employees and not members, as described:
Small: According to MEIC methodology, the result of its calculation is less than 35.
Medium: According to MEIC methodology, the result of its calculation is between 35 and 100.
Large: According to MEIC methodology, the result of its calculation is greater than 100.
78. SUSTAINABILITY (SOSTENIBILIDAD): Commitment to incorporate social, environmental, economic, and ethical factors within the strategic decision-making process, seeking to guarantee their permanence over time.
79. SUBLOAN: Loan derived from the principal loan.
80. OIL PALM BY-PRODUCT: Those generated in the field (leaves and trunks) and those generated in the extraction process, fiber or empty bunches, effluents, palm kernel meal, palm kernel shell (pericarp).
81. SUBSIDIZED RATE: The Central Bank's basic passive rate plus the administrative cost.
82. INTEREST RATE: Amount of money representing a percentage of the credit or loan that has been requested and which the debtor must pay to the lender.
83. TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: Process through which scientific and technological knowledge is delivered to develop new applications, new products, or the generation of new services.
84. PHYTOSANITARY DISORDER: Production problem related to one or several pathogens (insects, fungi, bacteria, nematodes, vertebrate pests, viruses, and phytoplasmas) and any other biotic, abiotic agent, or physiological disorder that affects the development and production of oil palm, due to alterations in the agroecosystem.
85. NUTRITIONAL DISORDER: Effects on crop development associated with the deficiency or imbalance of macro and micro nutrients from the chemical, physical, and microbiological point of view of the soil.
86. FINANCIAL VIABILITY: Financial feasibility or capacity of the project to generate a profit above the defined cost of capital.
87. TECHNICAL VIABILITY: Possibility of a project to create relationships and articulations with the actors involved in it, for the achievement of objectives, the overcoming of threats, and the creative use of the opportunities imposed by the environment at the political, economic, social, cultural, technological, and environmental levels.
88. VIABLE: Possibility of being carried out or concretized.
Guiding Foundations.