The Trust Committee is created as a maximum deconcentration body, attached to the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería, with instrumental legal personality to fulfill the following functions:
- a)Receive applications from candidates who expressly request to be subject to the benefits of this Law.
- b)Approve or deny the purchase of the applicants' debt, after verification of compliance with the requirements ordered in this Law.
- c)Proceed with the purchase of the approved beneficiaries' debts.
- d)Restructure the purchased debt with a term of fifteen years and at the interest rate set in this Law. In special cases, after a technical and financial study, the Trust Committee may set a term shorter than that established in this subsection.
(Thus reformed by subsection e) of Article 1 of Law No. 8332 of November 7, 2002).
- e)Set the grace period of three years on the principal and interest. During this period, the operations shall not accrue interest, nor shall these be accumulated to the principal amount. The Trust Committee shall consider the type of activity the farmer is engaged in, in order to establish the periodicity of interest payments.
(Thus reformed the preceding paragraph by Article 1 of Law No. 8477 of November 3, 2005).
- f)Approve the budgets of the Trust Committee and the modifications required.
- g)Approve the contracting of at least one external audit per year for the trust.
- h)Collaborate with the trustee in everything required for the good functioning of the trust.
- i)Prevent the auction of assets given as guarantee in state banks or other financial entities and present technical recommendations for small and medium-sized producers with financial problems, affected in their payment capacity.
- j)Restructure liabilities originating in agricultural activities (actividades agropecuarias) with financial institutions regulated by SUGEF or by special law. In the case of legally constituted public or private institutions or organizations, for profit or non-profit, authorized by the Trust Committee, and whose normal course of business includes granting credits or financing for agricultural activities, the Trust Committee, by reasoned resolution, must justify the purchases and their restructurings.
(Thus reformed by subsection c) of Article 1 of Law No. 8390 of November 4, 2003).
- k)Present to the trustee a cash flow statement on cash needs, so that it can schedule investment terms.
- l)The Trust is authorized to include, in the final amount to be settled at the date of formalization, the principal, current interest, default interest, administrative expenses, legal expenses, and other related amounts owed to financial institutions regulated by SUGEF or by special law, and to legally constituted public or private institutions or organizations, for profit or non-profit, authorized by the Trust Committee, and whose normal course of business includes granting credits or financing for agricultural activities. The creditor entities must submit a public document certifying the existence of the credit, the principal amount, current interest, default interest, administrative, legal, and other related expenses, as well as the exact purpose for which the credit was granted. Operations with a purchase recommendation brought to the attention of the Trust Committee, whose economic content is guaranteed therein, shall not be passed to judicial collection by state banks.
(Modified by Article 1 of Law No. 8427, of December 7, 2004.)
- m)The Trust Committee must contract, at least once a year, an external audit on the administered resources, which shall be financed from the Trust's budget resources. A copy of the report made by the external audit must be sent to the Comisión Permanente Especial del Control del Ingreso y el Gasto Públicos of the Asamblea Legislativa, and to the Contraloría General de la República.
(Modified by Article 1 of Law No. 8427, of December 7, 2004.)
- n)The Committee is prohibited from using economic resources from the Agricultural Trust for purposes other than those established in Article 5 of this Law, such as creating a common employee fund, financing scholarships, or other benefits considered privileges. The Trust's resources may not be used to finance any other budget line that is not strictly included in the objectives of Article 1 of this Law.
(Thus reformed the preceding paragraph by Article 1 of Law No. 8509 of May 5, 2006).
- ñ)The Committee may accept or deny payment arrangements, through technical recommendations, for the producer beneficiaries of the Law, when they demonstrate problems in their capacity to meet their obligations to the Trust. The Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería shall issue a certification stating that the impossibility of payment is due to natural phenomena and price or market problems.
(Thus added the preceding paragraph by Article 2 of Law No. 8427 of December 7, 2004.)
- o)The Trust Committee is authorized, after a technical study, to authorize the opening of new annual periods for the constitution of producers' debts, so that they may avail themselves of the benefits of the Law; as well as the extension of the affectation periods provided in subsection a) of Article 5 of this Law.
- p)The Committee is authorized, for a maximum period of six months starting from the effective date of the opening of new annual periods for the constitution of producers' debts, to purchase movable and immovable property that state banks and legally constituted public or private institutions or organizations, for profit or non-profit, authorized by the Trust Committee, and whose normal course of business includes granting credits or financing for agricultural activities, have been awarded and have guaranteed liabilities originating in agricultural activities, so that they may be financed solely in the name of their former owners, who have expressly requested it before the Committee and who have qualified as program beneficiaries. In the case of movable and immovable property that state banks or other public or private institutions have been awarded, the Trust may not purchase them at a price higher than the total amount of the debt; which shall also include the interest and costs that said entities adjudicated to themselves.
- q)The Committee is authorized, as of the publication of this Law in the official gazette, to open the reception of applications on a permanent basis, so that all interested parties who believe they qualify as subjects of the benefits granted by this Law and its reforms may submit their application to the Trust Committee.
(Thus added subsections o), p), q) by Article 2 of Law No. 8509 of May 5, 2006).
For the proper fulfillment of the purposes of this Law, the Trust Committee is authorized to establish a technical unit, whose material and human structure, tasks, functions, and responsibilities shall be established in the Regulations (Reglamento) of this Law. The personnel of this unit shall be contracted according to the technical criteria determined by the trustee. The Agricultural Trust may transfer to the Committee up to a maximum of one point twenty-five percent annually (1.25%) of its resources, to cover operational and logistical expenses, among others, that allow it to fulfill the functions strictly related to the purposes and objectives of this Law.
(Modified by Article 1 of Law No. 8427, of December 7, 2004.)
The Trust's resources may not be used to finance any other budget line that is not strictly included in the objectives of Article 1 of this Law.