CCR 1011 01F. Loan Agreement No. CCR 1011 01F is approved, between the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Republic of Costa Rica, to finance the Budget Support Program for the Strengthening of the Implementation Policies of the Decarbonization Plan of Costa Rica, up to the equivalent in euros of one hundred fifty million United States dollars (US $150,000,000). The text of the referenced Loan Agreement and its annexes, which are attached below, form an integral part of this Law.
AFD AGREEMENT NO. CCR 1011 01F ________________________________________________________________________ CREDIT AGREEMENT dated March 25, 2020 between THE FRENCH DEVELOPMENT AGENCY The Lender AND THE REPUBLIC OF COSTA RICA The Borrower LAW NO. 9846 51 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION ................................................................. 56 1.1 Definitions .................................................................................... ...................... 56 1.2 Interpretation .................................................................................. .................... 56 2. CREDIT, ALLOCATION, AND CONDITIONS OF USE .......................................... 56 2.1 Credit ........................................................................................ ......................... 56 2.2 Allocation ...................................................................................... ...................... 56 2.3 Absence of Liability ............................................................................. 56 2.4 Conditions Precedent (Condiciones suspensivas) .................................................................................. 56 3. DISBURSEMENT MODALITIES ...................................................................... 57 3.1 Amount of Disbursements ................................................................................. 57 3.2 Disbursement Request ..................................................................................... 57 3.3 Execution of the Disbursement ............................................................................... 57 3.4 Credit Disbursement Modalities .......................................................... 58 4. INTEREST ........................................................................................ ......................... 58 4.1 Interest Rate .................................................................................................... 58 4.2 Calculation and Payment of Interest .......................................................................... 59 4.3 Default and Late Payment Interest ......................................................................... 60 4.4 Communication of Interest Rates .............................................................. 60 4.5 Global Effective Rate (Taux Effectif Global) .................................................... 61 5. CHANGE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INTEREST RATE ......................................... 61 5.1 Market Disruption ................................................................................. 61 5.2 Replacement Rate ............................................................................................... 61 6. COMMISSIONS ...................................................................................... ....................... 63 6.1 Commitment Commission ................................................................................... 63 6.2 Appraisal Commission ...................................................................................... 64 7. REIMBURSEMENT ....................................................................................... ...................... 64 8. EARLY REIMBURSEMENTS AND CANCELLATION ................................................... 64 8.1 Voluntary Early Reimbursements ............................................................... 64 8.2 Mandatory Early Reimbursements .............................................................. 64 8.3 Cancellation by the Borrower ................................................................. 65 8.4 Cancellation by the Lender ................................................................ 65 8.5 Limitations ................................................................................... ..................... 65 9. ADDITIONAL PAYMENT OBLIGATIONS .......................................................... 66 9.1 Costs and Expenses .................................................................................................... 66 9.2 Indemnification for Cancellation ............................................................................ 66 9.3 Indemnification Consequent to Early Reimbursement .................................. 66 9.4 Taxes and Obligations .................................................................................... 66 9.5 Additional Expenses .............................................................................................. 67 9.6 Indemnification Consequent to a Conversion Operation ................................. 67 9.7 Due Date .......................................................................................... 67 10. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES ..................................................................... 68 10.1 Power and Authority ............................................................................................... 68 10.2 Validity and Admissibility as Evidence ............................................................... 68 10.3 Binding Force .............................................................................................. 68 10.4 Registration and Stamp Duties ........................................................ 68 LAW NO. 9846 52 10.5 Transfer of Funds ..................................................................................... 68 10.6 Absence of Contradiction with Other Obligations ........................................... 69 10.7 Applicable Law; Exequatur ............................................................................ 69 10.8 Absence of an Event of Acceleration (Caso de Exigibilidad Anticipada) .................................................................................. 69 10.9 Absence of Misleading Information ................................................................ 69 10.10 Pari Passu ................................................................................... ..................... 69 10.11 Lawful Origin of Funds, Act of Corruption, Fraud, Anti-Competitive Practices ................................................................................... .......................... 69 10.12 Absence of Material Adverse Effect ............................................ 70 10.13 Sovereign Immunity ...................................................................................... 70 11. UNDERTAKINGS .................................................................................... ................. 70 11.1 Compliance with Laws, Regulations, and Obligations ........................................ 70 11.2 Authorizations ................................................................................ ..................... 70 11.3 Implementation and Protection of the Project ...................................................... 70 11.4 Environmental and Social Responsibility .................................................................. 70 11.5 Additional Financing ........................................................................................ 70 11.6 Pari Passu .................................................................................... ........................ 71 11.7 Inspections .................................................................................. ....................... 71 11.8 Project Evaluation ..................................................................................... 71 11.9 Project Implementation ............................................................................ 71 11.10 Lawful Origin, Absence of Act of Corruption, of Fraud, of Anti-Competitive Practices ................................................................................... .......................... 71 11.11 Additional Undertakings ............................................................................... 72 12. INFORMATION UNDERTAKINGS ................................................................ 72 12.1 Financial Information ...................................................................................... 72 12.2 Project Implementation ............................................................................ 72 12.3 Monitoring Report ...................................................................................... 72 12.4 Co-financing .................................................................................................... 72 12.5 Additional Information ........................................................................................ 72 13. EVENTS OF DEFAULT .................................................................... 73 13.1 Events of Default ............................................................................... 73 13.2 Acceleration (Exigibilidad Anticipada) ..................................................................................... 74 13.3 Notification of an Event of Default ......................................................... 75 14. MANAGEMENT OF THE CREDIT ..................................................................................... 75 14.1 Payments ......................................................................................... ........................... 75 14.2 Set-off .................................................................................. ................... 75 14.3 Business Days .................................................................................. ....................... 75 14.4 Payment Currency .................................................................................................. 76 14.5 Calculation of Days .................................................................................................... 76 14.6 Place of Performance and Payments ............................................................................. 76 14.7 Disruption of Payment Systems ................................................................ 76 15. MISCELLANEOUS ......................................................................................... .......................... 77 15.1 Language ........................................................................................ .......................... 77 15.2 Certificates and Calculations ........................................................................................ 77 15.3 Partial Invalidity ................................................................................................... 77 15.4 Absence of Waiver ........................................................................................ 77 15.5 Assignments ...................................................................................... ......................... 77 LAW NO. 9846 53 15.6 Legal Value ................................................................................ ...................... 78 15.7 Entire Agreement ............................................................................................... 78 15.8 Amendments ..................................................................................... ...................... 78 15.9 Confidentiality - Disclosure of Information ............................................. 78 15.10 Limitation Period ..................................................................................... 78 16. NOTIFICATIONS ................................................................................................ 78 16.1 Written Communications and Recipients .......................................................... 78 16.2 Receipt ..................................................................................... ........................ 79 16.3 Electronic Communication ................................................................................. 79 17. APPLICABLE LAW, JURISDICTION, AND DOMICILE ELECTION .. 80 17.1 Applicable Law ................................................................................................ 80 17.2 Arbitration ..................................................................................... ......................... 80 17.3 Domicile Election .......................................................................................... 80 18. DURATION ....................................................................................... ...................... 80
ANNEX 4 - CONDITIONS PRECEDENT (Condiciones Suspensivas) ................................................................... 96
ANNEX 6 - LIST OF INFORMATION THAT THE BORROWER FORMALLY AUTHORIZES TO BE PUBLISHED BY THE LENDER AND THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT ON THEIR INTERNET PAGES 104 CREDIT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNDERSIGNED, NAMELY:
(1) THE REPUBLIC OF COSTA RICA, represented by Rodrigo Chaves Robles, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, who is duly authorized to sign this Agreement (hereinafter, "Costa Rica" or the "Borrower"); AND (2) THE FRENCH DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, a French public entity under French law, with its main domicile at 5, Rue Roland Barthes, 75598 Paris Cedex 12, France, registered in the Paris Trade and Companies Registry under number 775 665 599, represented by Jean-Baptiste Sabatié, in his capacity as Regional Director of the French Development Agency for Mexico, Cuba, and Central America, and duly authorized to sign this Agreement, (hereinafter, "AFD" or the "Lender"); (hereinafter, the Borrower and the Lender shall be referred to jointly as the "Parties" and individually as a "Party");
(A) The Borrower wishes to obtain a loan as budget support for the strengthening of the implementation policies of the National Decarbonization Plan (hereinafter, the "Project"), as described below in Annex 2.
(B) The Borrower has requested the Lender to grant a credit for the financing of the Project.
(C) By virtue of Resolution No. C20191123 of December 19, 2019, issued by the Board of Directors of the AFD, the Lender agreed to grant a Credit to the Borrower in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
THE PARTIES HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:
1. DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION 1.1 Definitions The terms and expressions in capital letters used in this Agreement (including those contained in the foregoing considerations and in the Annexes) shall have the meaning attributed to them in Annex 1A (Definitions), unless otherwise provided in this Agreement.
1.2 Interpretation The terms and expressions used in this Agreement shall be understood in accordance with the provisions of Annex 1B (Construction), unless otherwise indicated.
2. CREDIT, ALLOCATION, AND CONDITIONS OF USE 2.1 Credit The Lender makes available to the Borrower, subject to the provisions of this Agreement, a Credit for a total maximum amount of one hundred thirty-seven million, four hundred twenty-five thousand, five hundred sixty-one euros (137,425,561 euros).
2.2 Allocation The Borrower must use the entirety of the sum lent under the Credit exclusively for the financing of the Project, as indicated in Annex 2 (Program Description), in accordance with the Financing Plan described in Annex 3 (Financing Plan).
2.3 Absence of Liability The Lender shall not be liable for the use of any amount lent that is not in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.
2.4 Conditions Precedent (Condiciones suspensivas) (a) The Borrower must provide the Lender, no later than the Agreement Signature Date, all the documents listed in Part I of Annex 4 (Conditions Precedent (Condiciones Suspensivas)).
(b) The Borrower may not deliver a Disbursement Request to the Lender unless:
(i) For the first Disbursement, the Lender has received all the documents listed in Part II of Annex 4 (Conditions Precedent (Condiciones Suspensivas)), and has confirmed to the Borrower that said documents are compliant with the requirements of the aforementioned Annex in form and substance; (ii) For any Disbursement, the Lender has received all the documents indicated in Part II of Annex 4 (Conditions Precedent (Condiciones Suspensivas)) and has notified the Borrower that said documents are satisfactory in form and substance; and (iii) on the date of the Disbursement Request and on the Disbursement Date, no Payment Systems Disruption event has occurred and that the conditions established in this Agreement are met, especially:
(1) no Event of Default is ongoing or could possibly occur; (2) no co-financier has suspended its payments in relation to the Project; (3) the Disbursement Request conforms to the stipulations of Article 0 (3.2 Disbursement Request); (4) each representation made by the Borrower under Article 0 (10. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES) is accurate; 3. DISBURSEMENT MODALITIES 3.1 Amount of Disbursements The Credit shall be made available to the Borrower during the Availability Period, in a single Disbursement.
3.2 Disbursement Request Provided the conditions established in Article b) of Article 2.4 (Conditions Precedent (Condiciones suspensivas)) are met, the Borrower may access the Credit by delivering to the Lender the duly established Disbursement Request. The Disbursement Request shall be delivered by the Borrower to the Director of the AFD Office at the address specified in Article 16.1 (Written Communications and Recipients).
The Disbursement Request is irrevocable and shall be considered as duly established only if:
(a) it is substantially in the form of the model established in Annex 5A (Model Disbursement Request Letter); (b) it is received by the Lender no later than fifteen (15) Business Days before the Disbursement Deadline; (c) the requested Disbursement Date is a Business Day included within the Availability Period; (d) the amount of the Disbursement complies with Article 3.1 (Amount of Disbursements); and (e) all documents listed in Part II of Annex 4 (Conditions Precedent (Condiciones Suspensivas)) to justify the requested Disbursement were attached to the Disbursement Request, comply with the requirements of the aforementioned Annex, the stipulations of Article 3.4 (Credit Disbursement Modalities), and are satisfactory in form and substance to the Lender.
3.3 Execution of the Disbursement In accordance with the stipulations of Article 14.70 (Disruption of Payment Systems), if each condition stipulated in Article 2.4 b) (Conditions Precedent (Condiciones suspensivas)) of this Agreement is met, the Lender shall make the requested Disbursement available to the Borrower, no later than the Disbursement Date.
The Lender shall send the Borrower, as soon as possible, a Disbursement confirmation letter substantially in the form of the model found in Annex 5B (Model Disbursement and Rate Confirmation Letter).
3.4 Credit Disbursement Modalities The disbursed amount shall be credited to the Borrower's account or to any other account whose details shall be duly communicated by the Borrower to the Lender.
4. INTEREST 4.1 Interest Rate 4.1.1 Choice of Interest Rate For the Disbursement, the Borrower may choose between a fixed Interest Rate or a variable Interest Rate, which shall apply to the amount established in the corresponding Disbursement Request, indicating the selected Interest Type, i.e., fixed or variable, in the Disbursement Request delivered to the Lender in the form established in Annex 5A (Model Disbursement Request Letter), in accordance with the following conditions:
(i) Variable interest rate The Borrower may choose a variable interest rate, which shall be the annual percentage rate, and the sum of:
- six-month EURIBOR, or, as the case may be, the Reference Rate plus any Adjustment Margin, as determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 5 (Change in the Calculation of the Interest Rate) of the Agreement; and - the Margin. Without prejudice to the foregoing, in the case of the Disbursement, if the first Interest Period is less than one hundred thirty-five (135) days, the applicable EURIBOR shall be:
- one-month EURIBOR, or, if applicable, the Reference Rate plus any Adjustment Margin, as determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 5 (Change in the Calculation of the Interest Rate) of the Agreement, in the event that the first Interest Period is less than sixty (60) days; or - three-month EURIBOR, or, when applicable, the Reference Rate plus any Adjustment Margin, as determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 5 (Change in the Calculation of the Interest Rate) of the Agreement, in the event that the first Interest Period is between sixty (60) and one hundred thirty-five (135) days.
(ii) Fixed interest rate Given that the amount of the requested Disbursement exceeds three million euros (3,000,000 euros), the Borrower may choose a Fixed Interest Rate for said Disbursement. The Fixed Interest Rate shall correspond to the Fixed Reference Rate increased or reduced due to any fluctuation in the Interest Rate from the Signature Date to the corresponding Rate Fixing Date.
The Borrower shall have the power to indicate a maximum fixed Interest Rate in the Disbursement Request letter. If the fixed Interest Rate calculated on the Rate Fixing Date exceeds the maximum Fixed Interest Rate amount specified in the Disbursement Request, said Disbursement Request shall be cancelled and the disbursed amount specified in the cancelled Disbursement Request shall be credited to the Available Credit.
4.1.2 Minimum Interest Rate The Interest Rate determined in accordance with Article 4.1.1 (Choice of Interest Rate), regardless of the option chosen, shall not be less than zero point twenty-five percent (0.25%) per annum, notwithstanding any downward trend in rates.
4.1.3 Conversion of the Variable Interest Rate to a Fixed Interest Rate. The variable Interest Rate applicable to the Disbursement shall be converted to a fixed Interest Rate in accordance with the conditions set forth below:
(i) Conversion of the rate at the Borrower's request The Borrower may, at any time, request that the Lender convert the variable Interest Rate applicable to the Disbursement to a fixed Interest Rate, provided that the amount of said Disbursement (as applicable) is equal to or greater than three million euros (3,000,000 euros).
To do so, the Borrower shall send the Lender a Rate Conversion Request in the form attached as Annex 5C (Model rate conversion request letter). The Borrower shall have the power to indicate in the Rate Conversion Request a maximum amount for the fixed Interest Rate. If the fixed Interest Rate calculated on the Rate Fixing Date exceeds the maximum amount for the fixed Interest Rate specified by the Borrower in the Rate Conversion Request, said Rate Conversion Request shall be automatically cancelled.
The fixed Interest Rate becomes effective two (2) Business Days after the Rate Fixing Date.
(ii) Rules applicable to Rate Conversion The fixed Interest Rate applicable to the Disbursement(s) in question shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 4.1.10(ii) (Fixed interest rate) referred to above in paragraph (i) concerning the Rate Fixing Date.
The Lender shall send the Borrower, as soon as possible, a Rate Conversion Confirmation letter substantially in the form of the model set out in Annex 5D (Model rate conversion confirmation letter).
The Rate Conversion is final and is carried out at no cost.
4.2 Calculation and payment of interest The Borrower shall pay the interest accrued on the Disbursement(s) on each Payment Date.
The amount of interest payable by the Borrower on a given Payment Date and for a given Interest Period shall be equal to the sum of the interest owed by the Borrower on the entire Outstanding Principal Amount of each Disbursement. For a specific Disbursement, the interest owed by the Borrower shall be calculated taking into account:
(i) the Outstanding Principal Amount owed by the Borrower on the Disbursement in question on the immediately preceding Payment Date or, in the case of the first interest period, on the corresponding Disbursement Date; (ii) the actual number of days elapsed during the Interest Period on the basis of a three hundred and sixty (360) day year; and (iii) the Interest Rate applicable in accordance with the provisions of Article 4.1 (Interest Rate).
4.3 Default interest and late payment interest (a) Default interest on all due and unpaid sums (excluding interest) If the Borrower fails to pay any amount owed to the Lender under this Agreement (whether a payment of principal, early repayment breakage costs, fees, or ancillary costs of any kind, excluding due and unpaid interest) on the Payment Date, this amount shall bear interest within the limits authorized by law, during the period from its due date to the date of its actual payment (both before and after any arbitral award, if any) at the Interest Rate applicable to the current Interest Period (late payment interest (intereses moratorios)) increased by three point five percent (3.5%) (default interest (intereses de mora)). No prior formal notice from the Lender shall be necessary.
(b) Default interest on due and unpaid interest Due and unpaid interest on its due date shall bear interest, within the limit authorized by law, at the Interest Rate applicable in the current Interest Period (late payment interest (intereses moratorios)), increased by three percent (3.0%) (default interest (interés de mora)), to the extent that such interest has been due and payable for at least one (1) year. No prior formal notice from the Lender shall be necessary.
The Borrower shall pay the interest due under this Article 4.3 (Default interest and late payment interest) immediately upon demand by the Lender or on each Payment Date following the due date of the outstanding payment.
(c) The receipt of any payment of default interest or late payment interest by the Lender in no way implies the granting of payment extensions to the Borrower, nor shall it operate as a waiver of any of the Lender's rights under this Agreement.
4.4 Communication of Interest Rates The Lender shall notify the Borrower as soon as possible of each Interest Rate determined in accordance with this Agreement.
4.5 Global Effective Rate (Taux Effectif Global) For the purpose of complying with Articles L. 313-1, L. 313-2, and R. 313-1 et seq. of the French Consumer Code and L. 313-4 of the French Monetary and Financial Code, the Lender shall inform the Borrower, and the Borrower accepts, the global effective rate (taux effectif global) applicable to the Credit that may be evaluated at an annual rate of one point fifty-four percent (1.54%) on the basis of a three hundred and sixty-five (365) day year, for an Interest Period of six (6) months, and in accordance with the following conditions:
(a) the above rates are provided for informational purposes only; (b) the above rates shall be calculated on the following bases:
(i) disbursement of the entire Credit on the Signing Date; (ii) no Disbursement made available to the Borrower shall bear interest at a variable rate; and (iii) the fixed rate over the entire duration of the Credit shall be equal to one point fifty-one percent (1.51%) per annum; (c) The mentioned rates take into account the fees and various expenses chargeable to the Borrower under this Agreement, based on the assumption that said fees and various expenses shall remain fixed and shall apply until the end of the Agreement.
5. CHANGE IN INTEREST RATE CALCULATION 5.1 Market Disruption (a) In the event that a Market Disruption affects the eurozone interbank market, and it is impossible to:
- i)For the fixed Interest Rate, determine the fixed Interest Rate applicable to a Disbursement, or ii) For the variable Interest Rate, determine the EURIBOR applicable for the corresponding Interest Period, the Lender shall notify the Borrower of such situation.
(b) When the event described in paragraph a) above occurs, the applicable Interest Rate, as the case may be, for the Disbursement or Interest Period in question shall be the sum of:
(i) the Margin; and ii) the annual rate corresponding to the cost incurred by the Lender to finance the Disbursement by any reasonable means it has selected. Said rate shall be notified to the Borrower as soon as possible and, in any case, before: 1) the first Payment Date for the interest owed under said Disbursement for the fixed Interest Rate or 2) the Payment Date for the interest owed under said Interest Period for the variable Interest Rate.
5.2 Replacement of the monitoring rate 5.2.1 Definitions "Designated Competent Authority" means any central bank, regulator, supervisor, working group, or committee sponsored, chaired, or formed at the request of any of them.
"Replacement Rate Substitution Event" means any of the following events or series of events:
- a)when the definition, methodology, formula, or means for determining the Replacement Rate has changed significantly; b) when a law or regulation is enacted prohibiting the use of the Replacement Rate, it being specified, for the avoidance of doubt, that the occurrence of such an event shall not constitute a mandatory prepayment event1; 1 Note kept to prevent this event from being considered a mandatory prepayment event (Illegality for the lender).
- c)The administrator of the Replacement Rate or its supervisor publicly announces:
- i)That it has ceased or will cease to provide the Replacement Rate permanently or indefinitely and, at that time, no successor administrator has been publicly appointed to continue providing said Replacement Rate; ii) That the Replacement Rate has ceased or will cease to be published permanently or indefinitely; or iii) That the Replacement Rate can no longer be used (whether now or in the future); d) A public announcement is made of the bankruptcy of the administrator of said Replacement Rate or any other insolvency proceedings against it, and, at that time, no successor administrator has been publicly appointed to continue providing said Replacement Rate; or e) In the judgment of the Lender, the Replacement Rate has ceased to be used in a series of comparable financial transactions. "Replacement Rate" means EURIBOR or, following the substitution of said rate, the Replacement Rate.
"Replacement Rate Substitution Date" means:
- with respect to the events mentioned in points a), d), and e) of the definition above of Replacement Rate Substitution Event, it refers to the date on which the Lender becomes aware of the occurrence of said event, and - with respect to the events referred to in points b) and c) of the preceding definition of Replacement Rate Substitution Event, it refers to the date after which the use of the Replacement Rate will be prohibited or the date on which the administrator of the Replacement Rate permanently or indefinitely ceases to provide said Rate, or the date after which the Replacement Rate can no longer be used.
5.2.2 Each of the Parties acknowledges and agrees for the benefit of the other Party that if a Replacement Rate Substitution Event occurs and in order to preserve the economic balance of the Agreement, the Lender may replace the Replacement Rate with another rate (hereinafter the "Reference Rate (Tasa de Remplazo)") which may include an adjustment margin in order to avoid any transfer of economic value between the Parties (if any) (hereinafter, the "Adjustment Margin (Margen de Ajuste)") and the Lender shall determine the date from which the Reference Rate and, if any, the Adjustment Margin shall replace the Replacement Rate and any other amendment to the Agreement required as a result of the substitution of the Replacement Rate by the Reference Rate.
5.2.3 The determination of the Reference Rate and the necessary modifications shall be made in good faith and taking into account, i) the recommendations of any Designated Competent Authority, or ii) the recommendations of the administrator of the Replacement Rate, or iii) the industry solution recommended by professional associations in the banking sector, or iv) the market practice observed in a series of comparable financial transactions on the replacement date.
5.2.4 In the event of substitution of the Replacement Rate, the Lender shall immediately notify the Borrower of the terms and conditions of substitution to replace the Replacement Rate with the Reference Rate, which shall be applicable to the Disbursement or, as the case may be, to the Interest Periods beginning at least two Business Days after the Replacement Rate Substitution Date. 5.2.5 The provisions of Article 5.2 (Replacement rate) shall prevail over the provisions of Article 5.1 (Market disruption).
6. FEES 6.1 Commitment fee Commencing on the Signing Date, the Borrower shall pay the Lender a commitment fee at a rate of zero point fifty percent (0.50%) per annum under the conditions set out below.
The commitment fee shall be calculated based on the rate specified above, on the amount of the Available Credit pro-rated by the actual number of days elapsed, increased by the amount of any Disbursement that the Lender makes in accordance with any pending Disbursement Request.
The first commitment fee shall be calculated for the period between i) the date falling twelve (12) months after the Signing Date (excluded), until ii) the immediately following Payment Date (included). The subsequent commitment fees shall be calculated for the periods beginning on the day immediately following a Payment Date (included) and ending on the next Payment Date (included).
The commitment fee shall be payable (i) on each Payment Date falling within the Availability Period, (ii) on the Payment Date following the last day of the Disbursement Period, and (iii) in the event that the Available Credit is cancelled in its entirety, on the Payment Date following the effective date of such cancellation.
If applicable, the commitment fee accruing between i) the date falling twelve (12) months after the Signing Date (excluded) until ii) the immediately following Payment Dates (included) before the Effective Date, shall be payable on the first Payment Date occurring after the Effective Date.
6.2 Appraisal fee No later than five (5) Business Days from the Effective Date, the Borrower shall pay the Lender an appraisal fee of zero point five percent (0.50%) calculated on the maximum amount of the Credit.
7. REPAYMENT Upon the expiry of the Grace Period, the Borrower shall repay the Lender the principal of the Credit in thirty (30) semi-annual installments, due and payable on each Payment Date.
The first installment shall fall due and be payable on May 31, 2025, and the last installment shall fall due and be payable on November 30, 2039.
At the end of the Disbursement Period, the Lender shall provide the Borrower with an amortization schedule for the Credit, taking into account and, where applicable, any cancellations of the Credit in accordance with Article 8.3 (Cancellation by the Borrower) and/or 8.4 (Cancellation by the Lender).
8. EARLY REPAYMENTS AND CANCELLATION 8.1 Voluntary early repayments No early repayment of all or part of the Credit may occur by the Borrower during a period of one hundred and twenty (120) months commencing from the Signing Date.
From the date mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the Borrower may repay all or part of the Credit early, under the following conditions:
(a) the Borrower shall notify the Lender of its intention to prepay at least thirty (30) Business Days in advance, in writing and irrevocably, prior to the scheduled early repayment date; (b) the amount to be repaid early shall be equal to one or more principal installments; (c) the scheduled early repayment date shall be a Payment Date; (d) each early repayment shall be made together with the payment of accrued interest, fees, breakage costs, and related expenses in connection with the amount prepaid, as provided in this Agreement; (e) no amount is outstanding and unpaid; and (f) in the case of a partial early repayment, the Borrower must demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Lender, that it has sufficient funds to finance the Project, as determined by the Financing Plan.
The Borrower shall pay, on the Payment Date on which the early repayment is made, the entire amount of the breakage costs owed in accordance with Article 0 (Breakage costs upon early repayment).
8.2 Mandatory early repayments The Borrower shall immediately and in full repay all or part of any Disbursement after being informed by the Lender of the occurrence of one of the following events:
(a) Illegality: that, in accordance with applicable law, the Lender is unable to perform any of the obligations provided for in this Agreement or that financing or maintaining the Credit becomes illegal; (b) Additional costs: the amount of the additional costs mentioned in Article 9.4 (Taxes and duties) is significant and the Borrower has refused to pay said additional costs; (c) Default: the Lender declares an Event of Default under the Agreement in accordance with Article 13 (Events of default).
In the cases mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) above, the Lender, by written notice to the Borrower, reserves the right to exercise its creditor rights set forth in paragraph (a) of Article 13.2 (Acceleration).
8.3 Cancellation by the Borrower Before the Disbursement Deadline, the Borrower may cancel all or part of the Available Credit by sending a notice to the Lender at least three (3) Business Days in advance.
Upon receipt of such cancellation notice, the Lender shall cancel the amount notified by the Borrower, provided that the costs, as specified in the Financing Plan, are covered to the satisfaction of the Lender, except in the event that the Borrower abandons the Project.
8.4 Cancellation by the Lender The Available Credit shall be immediately cancelled by sending a notice to the Borrower, effective immediately, if:
(a) The Available Credit is not equal to zero on the Disbursement Deadline; (b) An Event of Default has occurred that has not been remedied; or (c) an event mentioned in Article 8 (Mandatory early repayments) has occurred; Except in connection with the cases in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Article 8.4 (Cancellation by the Lender), if the Lender has proposed postponing the Disbursement Deadline for the funds or the Deadline for the first Disbursement on the basis of new financial conditions to be applied to any Disbursement under the Available Credit and the Borrower has accepted the proposal.
8.5 Limitations (a) Any notice of prepayment or cancellation made by a Party in accordance with this Article 8 (Early repayments and cancellation) shall be irrevocable and, unless otherwise provided in this Agreement, any such notice shall specify the date or dates on which the relevant prepayment or cancellation is to be made and the amount of such prepayment or cancellation.
(b) The Borrower may not repay or cancel all or part of the Credit except at the times and in the manner expressly provided for in this Agreement.
(c) Any prepayment under this Agreement shall be made together with the payment of i) the interest accrued on the amount prepaid, ii) the outstanding fees, and iii) the Prepayment Indemnity referred to in Article 9.3 (Breakage costs upon early repayment) which appears below.
(d) Amounts prepaid early shall be applied to the last repayment maturities, starting with the most distant ones.
(e) The Borrower may not re-borrow all or part of the Credit that has been prepaid or cancelled.
9. ADDITIONAL PAYMENT OBLIGATIONS 9.1 Costs and expenses 9.1.1 The Borrower shall reimburse the Lender for all costs and expenses (including attorneys' fees) incurred in connection with the enforcement or preservation of any of its rights under this Agreement.
9.1.2 All costs and expenses related to the disbursement by the Lender of the Credit to the Borrower shall be borne by the Lender.
All costs and expenses related to all payments made by the Borrower to the Lender shall be borne by the Borrower.
9.2 Cancellation indemnity In the event of cancellation of all or part of the Credit, in accordance with the stipulations of Articles 8.3 (Cancellation by the Borrower) and/or 8.4 (Cancellation by the Lender), paragraphs (a), (b), and (c), the Borrower shall pay the Lender a cancellation indemnity of two point zero (2.0%) on the cancelled amount of the Credit.
In any case, the Cancellation Indemnity shall only be owed if the accumulated cancelled amount is greater than 15% of the total amount of the Credit. Each cancellation indemnity shall be payable on the Payment Date immediately following a cancellation of all or part of the Credit.
9.3 Breakage costs upon early repayment On account of the losses suffered by the Lender as a result of the early repayment of all or part of the Credit and in accordance with the stipulations of Articles 8.1 (Voluntary early repayments) and 8.2 (Mandatory early repayments), the Borrower shall be obligated to pay the Lender a breakage cost whose amount shall be the sum of: the Early Repayment Breakage Indemnity; and any expense arising from the breach of any interest hedging transaction(s) entered into by the Lender in connection with the amount prepaid.
9.4 Taxes and duties 9.4.1 Registration duties The Borrower shall pay directly or, where applicable, reimburse the Lender if it paid in advance, the stamp duties, registration duties, and other similar taxes to which the Agreement and any eventual amendments thereto would be subject.
9.4.2 Withholding Tax The Borrower undertakes to make all payments under the Agreement free and clear of any Withholding Tax. If a Withholding Tax must be made by the Borrower, the amount of its payment under the Agreement must be increased to reach an amount equal, after deduction of the Withholding Tax, to the amount that would have been owed if the payment had not been subject to Withholding Tax.
The Borrower undertakes to reimburse the Lender for all expenses and/or taxes chargeable to the Borrower, in the event these were paid by the Lender (if applicable), with the exception of Taxes owed in France.
9.5 Additional Costs the Borrower shall pay the Lender, within a period of five (5) Business Days from the date of the Lender's request, all reasonable Additional Costs incurred by the Lender as a result of: i) the entry into force of any new law or regulation, or any amendment or change in the interpretation or application of any existing law or regulation; or ii) compliance with any law or regulation coming into effect after the Signing Date. In this Article, "Additional Costs" is understood as:
(i) any cost resulting from the emergence after the Signing Date of one of the events mentioned in the first paragraph of this Article, which was not taken into account in the calculation of the financial conditions of the Credit; or (ii) any reduction in any amount owed and payable under this Agreement; incurred by the Lender by: i) making the Credit available to the Borrower or ii) entering into or performing its obligations under this Agreement.
Upon notification by the Lender, the Borrower and the Lender shall enter into a consultation period of ten (10) Business Days to evaluate the amount of the relevant Additional Costs and determine a decision regarding the payment of said costs that is convenient for both Parties. If so requested by the Borrower, the Lender shall provide the Borrower with the supporting documents for the Additional Costs that are the subject of the Notification by the Lender.
9.6 Currency conversion indemnity If a sum owed by the Borrower under this Agreement, or any order, judgment, or award given or issued in relation to said sum, must be converted from the currency in which it is denominated into another currency for the purposes of:
(i) a claim or proof against said Borrower; or (ii) obtaining or enforcing an order, judgment, or award in the context of litigation or arbitration proceedings, the Borrower shall within three (3) Business Days following the Lender's request and as permitted by law, pay the Lender the amount of any expense, loss, or liability arising from or as a result of the conversion, including any eventual difference between: (A) the exchange rate used between the currencies to convert the sum and (B) the exchange rate(s) that the Lender is able to use to convert the sum owed at the time of its receipt.
This indemnity obligation is independent of the other obligations of the Borrower under this Agreement.
The Borrower waives any right it may have, in any jurisdiction, to pay any amount owed under this Agreement in a currency or monetary unit other than that in which it is denominated.
9.7 Payment due date Any indemnity or reimbursement of the Lender by the Borrower under this Article 9 (Additional payment obligations) is payable on the Payment Date immediately following the triggering events to which the indemnity or reimbursement refers.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, indemnities relating to early repayment in accordance with Article 9.3 (Breakage costs upon early repayment) shall be payable on the date on which the early repayment takes place.
10. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES All representations and warranties set forth in this Article 10 (Representations and warranties) are made by the Borrower for the benefit of the Lender on the Effective Date. The Borrower is deemed to also make all the representations and warranties in this Article 10 (Representations and warranties) on the date on which all the conditions listed in Part II of Annex 4 (Conditions precedent) are satisfied, on the date of each Disbursement Request for funds, on each Disbursement Date for funds, and on each Payment Date, except for the repetitive representations contained in Article 10.9 (Absence of misleading information) which are deemed made by the Borrower in respect of information provided by it since the date on which the last representation was made.
10.1 Power and authority The Borrower has the capacity to sign and execute the Agreement and perform the obligations arising therefrom, carry out the activities corresponding to the Project, and has completed all the formalities required for this purpose.
10.2 Validity and admissibility as evidence All Authorizations necessary for:
(a) the Borrower to sign, legally exercise its rights, and comply with its obligations under this Agreement; and (b) this Agreement to be admissible as evidence before the courts of the Borrower's jurisdiction or in the arbitration proceedings defined in Article 17 (Governing law, jurisdiction, and election of domicile), were obtained and are in full force and effect, and no circumstances exist whereby these Authorizations may be revoked, not renewed, or modified in whole or in part.
10.3 Binding force The obligations incumbent upon the Borrower under this Agreement conform to the applicable laws and regulations and jurisdiction of the Borrower's country and are legal, valid, binding, and enforceable obligations in accordance with their written terms.
10.4 Registration and stamp duties.
By virtue of the laws of the jurisdiction of incorporation of the Borrower, it is not necessary for this Agreement to be filed, registered, or recorded with any court or other authority in that jurisdiction, nor for any stamp, registration, tax, or similar duty to be paid on or in connection with this Agreement or the transactions contemplated herein.
10.5 Transfer of funds All sums owed by the Borrower to the Lender under this Agreement, whether principal, interest, default interest, early repayment breakage costs, ancillary expenses, and others, are freely transferable and convertible.
This Authorization shall remain in force until the total repayment of all sums owed to the Lender, without the need to establish a deed confirming this in the event that the Lender has to extend the repayment dates for the sums lent.
The Borrower shall duly obtain the Euros necessary for compliance with this transfer authorization.
10.6 Absence of conflict with other obligations The signature and performance by the Borrower of this Agreement, as well as the transactions contemplated herein, shall not be contrary to any national or foreign law or regulation applicable to it, any of its constitutive documents (or any equivalent document), or any agreement or deed binding the Borrower or encumbering any of its assets.
10.7 Governing law; exequatur (a) The choice of French law as the law applicable to the Agreement shall be recognized by the jurisdictions and arbitral bodies of the Borrower.
(b) Any award or judgment in connection with the Agreement rendered by a French jurisdiction or by an arbitral body shall be recognized and have executory force in the Borrower's country.
10.8 Absence of an Event of Acceleration.
No Event of Default is ongoing or reasonably likely to occur.
No default by the Borrower likely to cause a Material Adverse Effect is ongoing under any other deed or agreement binding the Borrower or encumbering any of its assets. 10.9 Absence of misleading information All information and documents provided by the Borrower to the Lender are accurate and current as of the date on which they were delivered, or as the case may be, the date to which they related, and have not been amended, modified, cancelled, annulled, or altered, nor are they likely to induce the Lender into error on any significant point, by reason of an omission or the emergence of new facts or due to information communicated or not disclosed.
10.10 Pari Passu The Borrower's payment obligations under this Agreement shall benefit from the same order of payment priority (pari passu) as the claims of all its other unsecured and unsubordinated creditors.
10.11 Lawful origin of funds, Corrupt Act, Fraud, Anticompetitive Practices The Borrower declares and warrants that:
(i) all funds invested in the Project come entirely from the State budget; (ii) the Project has not given rise to any Corrupt Act, Fraud, or Anticompetitive Practices 10.12 Absence of Material Adverse Effect The Borrower declares and warrants that no event has occurred that is likely to have a Material Adverse Effect, nor is one likely to occur.
10.13 Sovereign immunity The Borrower waives immunity from jurisdiction and immunity from execution to which it may claim.
11. UNDERTAKINGS Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 18 (Duration), the obligations of this Article 11 (Undertakings) shall be binding on the Effective Date and shall remain fully in force as long as payment of any amount owed under this Agreement remains outstanding.
11.1 Compliance with laws, regulations, and obligations The Borrower undertakes to comply with:
(a) in all respects, all laws and regulations to which it and/or the Project is subject, in particular in relation to all applicable laws regarding procurement, environmental protection, safety, and labor regime; and (b) all its obligations under this Agreement.
11.2 Authorizations The Borrower undertakes to obtain, comply with, and do everything necessary to maintain in force and effective any Authorization required under any applicable law or regulation that enables it to fulfill its obligations under this Agreement and to guarantee its legality, enforceability, validity, or admissibility as evidence 11.3 Project Implementation and Protection The Borrower undertakes to:
(i) implement the Project in accordance with generally accepted safety principles and in accordance with the technical standards in force; and (ii) maintain the Project's assets in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations, in good working and maintenance condition, and use said assets in accordance with their purpose and applicable laws and regulations.
11.4 Environmental and Social Responsibility 11.4.1 Implementation of environmental and social measures In order to promote sustainable development, the Parties agree that it is necessary to promote compliance with internationally recognized environmental and labor standards, including the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organization ("ILO") and applicable international environmental laws and regulations in the Borrower's jurisdiction.
11.5 Additional Financing The Borrower shall not amend or modify the Financing Plan without the prior written consent of the Lender and shall finance any additional expenditure not foreseen in the Financing Plan in a manner that guarantees the repayment of the Credit.
11.6 Pari Passu The Borrower undertakes to: i) ensure that its payment obligations under this Agreement have, at all times, a payment priority at least equal to that of its other unsecured and unsubordinated payment obligations, present and future; ii) not grant prior priority or security to any other lender, except if the Borrower grants the same priority or security in favor of the Lender, if the Lender so requests.
11.7 Inspections By this Agreement, the Borrower authorizes the Lender and its representatives to carry out annual inspections, the purpose of which shall be to evaluate the implementation of the Project in its technical, financial, and institutional aspects in accordance with the Project Documents.
The Borrower shall cooperate and provide all reasonable assistance and information to the Lender and its representatives during said inspections, the timing and format of which shall be determined by the Lender after consulting with the Borrower.
11.8 Project Evaluation The Borrower undertakes to cooperate directly or through the Ministry of Finance in the evaluation of the Project carried out by the Lender after its execution, in order to determine whether the Project's objectives were met, and to provide the Lender with the information, data, and documents requested by the latter to carry out said evaluation.
This evaluation shall be used to prepare an implementation completion report that includes information on the Project, such as: the total amount and duration of the Credit, the Project objectives, the expected and actual results of the Project, the evaluation of its relevance, efficiency, impact, and viability/sustainability. The Borrower shall agree to the publication of this implementation completion report, in particular, on the Lender's website.
11.9 Project Implementation The Borrower undertakes to:
(i) ensure that the persons, groups, or entities participating in the implementation of the Project do not appear on any of the Financial Sanctions Lists (including especially the fight against the financing of terrorism); and (ii) not finance materials or sectors under United Nations, European Union, or French Embargoes.
11.10 Lawful origin, absence of Corrupt Act, Fraud, Anticompetitive Practices The Borrower undertakes to:
(i) guarantee that funds, other than those of public origin invested in the Project, are not of Unlawful Origin; (ii) ensure that the Project does not give rise to Corrupt Acts, Fraud, or Anticompetitive Practices; (iii) inform the Lender without delay as soon as it becomes aware of or suspects any Corrupt Act, Fraud, or Anticompetitive Practices; (iv) in the case mentioned in paragraph (iii), or at the Lender's request if the latter suspects that the acts or practices mentioned in paragraph (iii) have occurred, take all necessary measures to remedy the situation to the Lender's satisfaction and within the deadline determined by the Lender; and (v) notify the Lender immediately if it becomes aware of any information that leads it to suspect any Unlawful Origin of the funds used for the execution of the Project.
11.11 Additional Undertakings The Borrower shall organize semi-annual executive meetings with the objectives of monitoring the implementation of the Project and compliance with the objectives described in Annex 2 and in the Project documents.
12. INFORMATION UNDERTAKINGS Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 18 (Duration), the undertakings of this Article 12 (Information Undertakings) shall enter into force on the Effective Date and shall remain fully in force as long as payment of any amount owed under this Agreement remains outstanding.
12.1 Financial Information The Borrower shall provide the Lender with all information that the latter may reasonably request in relation to the status of its internal and external public debt, as well as the status of the loans it has guaranteed.
12.2 Project Implementation The Borrower shall provide the Lender, immediately, when requested, with any information or supporting document relating to the implementation of the Project, in accordance with the Project Documents.
The Borrower shall have the support of MINAE for the technical coordination of the preparation, supervision, and monitoring of the Project.
12.3 Monitoring Report The Borrower shall provide the Lender with:
(a) Until the Project Completion Date, within one month following the end of each semester, a monitoring report regarding the implementation of the Project during the semester in accordance with the Project Documents; (b) Within one month following the Project Completion Date, the report summarizing the technical and budgetary execution of the Project, in accordance with the Project Documents.
12.4 Co-financing The Borrower shall immediately inform the Lender of any cancellation (total or partial) or any early repayment made by a Co-financier.
12.5 Additional Information The Borrower shall provide the Lender with:
(a) immediately after becoming aware of them, details of any event or circumstance that is or may constitute an Event of Default or that has or may have a Material Adverse Effect, the nature of said event, and all measures taken or to be taken to remedy it (if any); (b) immediately, details of any decision or event that may affect the organization, implementation, or operation of the Project; 13. EVENTS OF DEFAULT 13.1 Events of Default Each of the events and circumstances mentioned in this Article 13.10 (Events of Default) constitutes an Event of Default.
(a) Payment Default If the Borrower, in accordance with the terms and conditions agreed under the Agreement, fails to pay a sum due on its due date, however, without prejudice to Article 4.3 (Default and late payment interest), no Event of Default shall occur under this paragraph 0 if the Borrower makes said payment in full within five (5) Business Days following the due date.
(b) Undertakings and Obligations The Borrower fails to comply with one of the stipulations under the Agreement and in particular, and without limitation, any of its undertakings made under Article 11 (Undertakings) and Article 12 (Information Undertakings).
Except for the undertakings provided for in Articles 11.4 (Environmental and Social Responsibility), 11.9 (Project Implementation), and 11.10 (Lawful origin, absence of corrupt act, fraud, anticompetitive practices) for which no grace period is permitted, no Event of Default shall be deemed to have occurred under this paragraph (c) if the failure is capable of being remedied and is remedied within a period of five (5) Business Days from the earliest of the following dates: (A) the date of the communication sent by the Lender to the Borrower notifying the failure; and (B) the date on which the Borrower became aware of said failure, or within the deadline given by the Lender for the cases cited in paragraph 0 of Article 11.10 (Lawful origin, absence of corrupt act, fraud, anticompetitive practices).
(c) Inaccurate Representation Any declaration or statement made by the Borrower under the Agreement, and particularly under Article 10 (Representations and Warranties), or in any other document delivered by or on behalf and for the account of the Borrower under the Agreement or in relation thereto, is or proves to be inaccurate or erroneous at the time it was made or is deemed to have been made (d) Cross Default (i) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (ii), any Financial Indebtedness of the Borrower is not paid on its due date or, as the case may be, within the grace period provided for under the documentation relating thereto.
(ii) A creditor with whom the Borrower has incurred Financial Indebtedness, terminated or suspended its commitment, declared early acceleration, or pronounced the early repayment of said indebtedness, as a result of an event of default or any provision having a similar effect (however described) in accordance with the relevant documentation No Event of Default shall occur under this Article 13.1 d) if the individual amount of the Financial Indebtedness or the commitment relating to a Financial Indebtedness falling within the scope of paragraphs i) and ii) above is less than one hundred million euros (100,000,000.00 euros) (or its equivalent in any other currency).
(e) Illegality It is or becomes illegal for the Borrower to perform any of its obligations under this Agreement.
(f) Material Adverse Effect Any event (including a change in the political situation of the Borrower's country) or any measure that, in the Lender's judgment, may produce a Material Adverse Effect.
(g) Abandonment or Suspension of the Cooperation Project One of the following events occurs:
(i) the Borrower withdraws from the Project; (ii) the implementation of the Project is suspended by the Borrower for a period exceeding six (6) months; (h) Authorizations Any Authorization required by the Borrower to fulfill or enforce its obligations under this Agreement or required in the ordinary course of the Project is not obtained in due time, is cancelled, or expires, or ceases to be in force.
(i) Judgments, Sentences, or Decisions with Material Adverse Effect Any judgment, arbitral award, or any judicial or administrative decision that occurs or could occur and which, in the Lender's judgment, has a Material Adverse Effect for the Borrower.
(j) Suspension of Free Convertibility and Free Transfer The free convertibility and free transfer of any of the sums owed by the Borrower under this Agreement, or any other Credit granted by the Lender to the Borrower or to any other borrower in the Borrower's jurisdiction, is challenged.
13.2 Early Acceleration At any time after an Event of Default occurs, the Lender may, without needing to file a formal claim or initiate judicial or extrajudicial proceedings, notify the Borrower in writing of:
(a) The cancellation of the Available Credit; and/or (b) declaring immediately due and payable all or part of the Credit, increased by accrued or overdue interest, as well as all amounts due under the Agreement.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that an Event of Default occurs as established in Article 13.1 (Events of Default), the Lender reserves the right, by written notification to the Borrower, to (i) suspend or postpone any Disbursement under the Credit and/or (ii) suspend the formalization of agreements relating to other potential financing offers that the Lender has notified to the Borrower and/or (iii) suspend or postpone any disbursement under any other current financing agreement entered into between the Borrower and the Lender.
If a Co-financier postpones or suspends any Disbursement under an agreement between said Co-financier and the Borrower, the Lender reserves the right to postpone or suspend any Disbursement under the Credit granted.
13.3 Notification of an Event of Default In accordance with the terms of Article 12.5 (Additional Information), the Borrower undertakes to notify the Lender as soon as possible after becoming aware of any event constituting or likely to constitute an Event of Default and shall inform the Lender of all measures contemplated by the Borrower to remedy it.
14. CREDIT MANAGEMENT 14.1 Payments All payments received by the Lender under this Agreement shall be allocated to the payment of costs, fees, interest, principal, or any other sum due under this Agreement in the following order:
- 1)incidental costs and expenses; 2) fees; 3) default interest and late payment interest; 4) accrued interest; 5) principal repayments.
Payments made by the Borrower shall be applied primarily to the sums due under the Credit or other possible Credits granted by the Lender to the Borrower, according to the Lender's greatest interest in having them repaid, and in the order set out in the preceding paragraph.
14.2 Set-off Without the need for the Borrower's consent, the Lender may at any time set off between the sums owed and unpaid by the Borrower and any sums the Lender holds for any reason on behalf of the Borrower or that the Lender owes the Borrower and which are due. If said sums are in different currencies, the Lender may convert any of them at the market exchange rate for set-off purposes. All payments to be made by the Borrower under the Agreement shall be calculated without taking into account any potential set-off, which, indeed, the Borrower refrains from exercising.
14.3 Business Days Any payment falling due on a day that is not a Business Day shall be made on the next Business Day of the same calendar month or, failing a next Business Day in the same calendar month, on the preceding Business Day.
If the due date of a sum of principal or an unpaid sum under this Agreement is extended, said amount shall bear interest during the extension period at the rate applicable on the original due date.
14.4 Payment Currency Except for the derogation provided for in Article 14.6 (Place of performance and payments), payment of any sum owed by the Borrower under the Agreement shall be made in Euros.
14.5 Calculation of Days All interest, fees, or costs due under the Agreement shall be calculated on the basis of the number of days actually elapsed and a three hundred sixty (360) day year, in accordance with European interbank market practices.
14.6 Place of Performance and Payments (a) The funds that the Lender transfers to the Borrower under the Credit shall be transferred to the bank account that the Borrower designates specifically for that purpose, provided that there is prior consent from the Lender regarding the selected bank.
The Borrower may request that the funds be transferred: i) in Euros to a bank account denominated in Euros; or ii) in the legal currency of the Borrower's jurisdiction, in the amount equivalent to the Disbursement at the market exchange rate on the day of the Disbursement and to a bank account denominated in that currency, provided that said currency is convertible and transferable; or iii) to any other convertible and transferable currency, for an amount equivalent to the Disbursement on the day of the Disbursement and to a bank account denominated in said currency.
(b) Any payment the Borrower makes to the Lender shall be paid on the due date no later than 11:00 am (Paris time) to the following bank account:
RIB Code: 30001 00064 00000040242 79 IBAN Code: FR76 3000 1000 6400 0000 4024 279 SWIFT Code of the Bank of France (BIC): BDFEFRPPCCT opened by the Lender at the Bank of France (head office/main branch) in Paris or any other account notified by the Lender to the Borrower.
(c) The Borrower shall request the bank responsible for transferring any sum to the Lender to provide the following information in a remittance message reflecting fully and in order the following information (SWIFT MT 202 numbers and protocol 103) -Ordering Customer: name, address, account number (field 50) -Ordering Customer's Bank: name and address (field 52) -Reference: name of the Borrower, name of the Project, reference number of the Agreement (field 70) (d) All payments made by the Borrower shall comply with this Article 14.6 (Place of performance and payment) for the relevant payment obligation to be considered fulfilled in its entirety.
14.7 Disruption of Payment Systems If the Lender considers (at its discretion) that a Disruption of Payment Systems has occurred, or if the Borrower notifies it that such a disruption has arisen:
(a) the Lender may, and at the Borrower's request, shall consult with it to reach an agreement on changes to be made to the operation and management of the Credit that the Lender considers necessary in view of the circumstances; (b) the Lender shall not be obliged to consult with the Borrower on the changes mentioned in paragraph (a) if it considers it impossible to do so given the circumstances and, in any case, is never obliged to reach an agreement on such changes; and (c) the Lender shall not be held liable for any cost, loss, or liability resulting from any action taken or not taken by it under this Article 14.7 (Disruption of payment systems).
15. MISCELLANEOUS 15.1 Language The language of the Agreement is English. If a translation is made, only the English version shall prevail in case of divergence in the interpretation of the provisions of the Agreement, or in case of litigation between the Parties.
Any communication or document provided under or in relation to the Agreement must be drafted in English.
The Lender may request that a notice or document provided under this Agreement or in relation thereto that is not in English be accompanied by a certified English translation, in which case, the English translation shall prevail unless the document is a statutory document of a company, a legislative text, or another official document.
15.2 Certificates and Calculations In any litigation or arbitration arising out of or in connection with this Agreement, the entries recorded in the accounts maintained by the Lender shall be prima facie evidence of the facts to which they refer.
Any certificate or determination by the Lender of a rate or amount under the Agreement constitutes, absent manifest error, proof of the facts to which it refers.
15.3 Partial Invalidity If, at any time, a provision of this Agreement is or becomes illegal, invalid, or unenforceable, the validity, legality, or enforceability of the remaining provisions of the Agreement shall not be affected or impaired in any way.
15.4 Absence of Waiver The mere fact that the Lender refrains from exercising a right or delays its exercise under the Agreement shall not be considered as a waiver of said right.
The partial exercise of a right does not preclude its further exercise, nor generally the exercise of the rights and remedies provided by law. The rights and remedies stipulated in the Agreement are cumulative and not exclusive of the rights and remedies provided by law.
15.5 Assignments The Borrower may not assign or transfer all or part of its rights and/or obligations under the Agreement without the prior written consent of the Lender.
The Lender may assign or transfer any of its rights or obligations under this Agreement to any other third party and may enter into any sub-participation agreement related thereto.
15.6 Legal Value The attached Annexes and the recitals thereof form an integral part of this Agreement and have the same legal value.
15.7 Entire Agreement As of the date of signature, this Agreement represents the entire agreement between the Parties in relation to its subject matter and supersedes and replaces all prior documents, agreements, or understandings in the context of the negotiation of this Agreement.
15.8 Amendments No amendment to this Agreement may be made without the prior written consent of the Parties.
15.9 Confidentiality - Disclosure of Information (a) The Borrower shall not disclose the content of this Agreement to any third party without the Lender's prior consent, except to any person to whom the Borrower has a duty of disclosure under any applicable law, regulation, or judicial decision.
(b) Without prejudice to any existing confidentiality agreement, the Lender may disclose any information or documents in relation to the Project to: i) its auditors, experts, rating agencies, legal advisors, or supervisory bodies; ii) any person or entity to whom the Lender may assign or transfer all or part of its rights or obligations under the Agreement; and iii) any person or entity for the purpose of taking protective measures or preserving the Lender's rights under the Agreement.
(c) Furthermore, the Borrower expressly authorizes the Lender to:
(i) exchange information with the French Republic for publication on the French Government's website, in accordance with any request from the International Aid Transparency Initiative; and (ii) to publish on the Lender's website the information relating to the Project and its financing as indicated in Annex 6 (Information that may be published on the French Government's website and on the Lender's website) 15.10 Limitation Period The limitation period for any claim under this Agreement shall be ten (10) years, except in the case of a claim relating to the payment of interest due under this Agreement.
16. NOTICES 16.1 Written Communications and Addressees Any notice, request, or other communication that must be made under this Agreement or in connection therewith shall be made in writing, and unless otherwise stipulated, may be made by mail to the following address and numbers:
For the Borrower:
REPÚBLICA DE COSTA RICA Ministerio de Hacienda Address:
San José, Avenida 2da Calle 1 y 3, diagonal al Teatro Nacional Telephone: (506) 2539-4647 / (506) 2284-5000 Email: [email protected] Addressed to: Ministro de Hacienda For the Lender:
AFD - OFICINA DE MÉXICO Address:
Torre Omega Campos Elíseos 345, piso 16 Coronel Chapultepec Polanco C.P 11560 Ciudad de México Telephone: +52 (55) 52 8l 17 77 Addressed to: Director de la Oficina de la AFD en México with a copy to:
With a copy to:
AFD - OFICINA CENTRAL DE PARÍS Address: 5, rue Roland Barthes - 75598 Paris Cedex 12, France Telephone: + 33 1 53 44 31 31 Addressed to: Director(a) del Departamento para América Latina (ALM) or any other address or name of the responsible department that one Party indicates to the other.
16.2 Receipt Any notice, request, or communication made or any document sent by one Party to the other Party in connection with this Agreement shall take effect if made by letter sent by physical mail, when delivered to the correct address, and, in the event that a service or a responsible person has been specified according to the address details provided under Article 16.1 (Written Communications and Addressees), if said notice, request, or communication has been addressed to that person or department.
16.3 Electronic Communication (a) Any communication made by one person to another under this Agreement or in connection therewith may be made by email or other electronic means if the Parties:
(ii) agree that this shall be an accepted form of communication until further notice; (iii) notify each other in writing of their email addresses and/or any other information necessary for the exchange of information by that means; and (iv) notify each other of any change to their respective addresses or the information they have provided.
(a) Any electronic communication between the Parties shall be considered effective if received in legible form.
17. APPLICABLE LAW, JURISDICTION, AND ELECTION OF DOMICILE 17.1 Applicable Law This Agreement shall be governed by French law.
17.2 Arbitration Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be submitted to arbitration and finally resolved in accordance with the Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce applicable on the date of commencement of the arbitration proceedings, by one or more arbitrators appointed in accordance with said Rules.
The seat of the arbitration shall be Paris and the language of the arbitration shall be English.
This arbitration clause shall retain its validity even in the event of nullity, rescission, annulment, or expiry of the Agreement. The fact that one of the Parties initiates proceedings against the other Party shall not, by itself, suspend its contractual obligations as they arise from the Agreement.
The Parties expressly agree that, by signing this Agreement, the Borrower irrevocably waives all rights of immunity with respect to jurisdiction or execution to which it might otherwise claim.
17.3 Election of Domicile Without prejudice to applicable legal provisions, for the purposes of service of judicial and extrajudicial documents that may arise from any action or proceeding mentioned above, the Borrower irrevocably elects domicile at the address indicated in Article 16 (Notices) and the Lender, at the "AFD SEDE" address indicated in Article 16 (Notices).
18. TERM All obligations incurred under this Agreement shall be effective on the Effective Date and shall remain in effect so long as any amount is owed under this Agreement.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the stipulations of Articles 15.9 (Confidentiality - Disclosure of Information) shall continue to produce their effects for a period of five (5) years after the last Payment Date.
Executed in two (2) originals, in San José, on March 25, 2020.
BORROWER REPÚBLICA DE COSTA RICA ________________________________ Represented by:
Name: Rodrigo Chaves Robles
LENDER AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT ________________________________ Represented by:
Name: Jean-Baptiste SABATIE
Co-signatory, His Excellency Mr. Philippe Vinogradoff, Ambassador of France.
| Agreement | shall mean this agreement, as may be amended from time to time. | | | --- | --- | --- | | Acts of Corruption (Actos de Corrupción) | Designate the following acts: | | | The fact of promising, offering, or granting to a Public Official (Funcionario Público), or to any person who directs an entity in the private sector or works in such entity, in whatever capacity, directly or indirectly, an undue advantage of any nature for himself or for another person or entity, so that he performs or refrains from performing an act in violation of his official or legal, contractual, or professional duties that has the effect of influencing his own actions or those of another person or entity; or | | | | The fact that a Public Official, or any person who directs an entity in the private sector or works in such entity, in whatever capacity, solicits or accepts to solicit or to accept, directly or indirectly, an undue advantage of any nature for himself or for another person or entity, so that he performs or refrains from performing an act in violation of his official or legal, contractual, or professional duties that has the effect of influencing his own actions or those of another person or entity. | | | | Annex(s) (Anexo(s)) | Designates the annex(es) to this Agreement. | | | Authorization(s) (Autorización(es)) | Designates all agreements, registrations, filings, conventions, certifications, attestations, authorizations, approvals, permits and/or mandates, or waivers thereof, obtained or made before an Authority (Autoridad), whether granted by an explicit act or deemed granted in the absence of a response after a determined period of time, as well as all | | | | | approvals and other agreements granted by the Borrower's creditors. | | | Authority (Autoridad(es)) | Designates any government or body, department, commission, exercising a public prerogative, administration, court, agency, or entity of a state, governmental, administrative, tax, or judicial nature. | | | Event of Default (Evento de Incumplimiento) | Designates each of the events or circumstances in article 13.1 (Case of Early Demand). | | | Outstanding Principal (Capital pendiente) | means, with respect to any Disbursement (Desembolso), the amount of principal outstanding with respect to said Disbursement, corresponding to the amount of the Disbursement paid by the Lender to the Borrower less the total principal installments repaid by the Borrower to the Lender with respect to said Disbursement. | | | Certified Conforming Copy(s) (Certificado(s) Conforme) | Designates, for any copy, photocopy, or other duplicate of an original document, the authentication or legalization by a person duly authorized for that purpose, that the copy, photocopy, or other duplicate conforms to the original. | | | Co-Financier(s) (Cofinanciero(s)) | means the following co-financier(s) of the Project: BID, for an amount (known or contemplated) of two hundred thirty million USD (230,000,000 USD). | | | Co-Financing (Cofinanciamiento) | means the BID credit in an amount of two hundred thirty million dollars (USD 230,000,000) | | | Rate Conversion (Conversión de Tasa) | Designates the conversion of the variable rate applicable to the Credit or a part of the Credit into a fixed rate according to the modalities provided for in article 4.1 (Interest Rate). | | | Credit (Crédito) | Designates the credit granted by the Lender by virtue of these presents and for the maximum principal amount stipulated in article 2.1. | | | Available Credit (Crédito Disponible) | Designates, at any given time, the maximum principal amount specified in article 2.1 (Credit), less (i) the amount of Disbursements made, (ii) the amount of Disbursements to be made in accordance with ongoing Disbursement Requests, and (iii) the portions of the Credit cancelled in accordance with article 8.3 (Cancellation by the Borrower) and article 8.4 (Cancellation by the Lender). | | | Borrower's Account (Cuenta del Prestatario) | refers to the account with the following details: - Account number: GB50CHAS60924241388180 Bank SWIFT (BIC) code: BCCRCRSJ opened on behalf of the Borrower with Banco Central de Costa Rica | | | Disbursement | Designates the disbursement of part or all of the funds made available to the Borrower by the Lender under the Credit under the conditions of Article 3 | | | (Disbursement Modalities) or the amount of principal of a disbursement owed at a certain time or of the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance. | | | | Designates any financial debt relating to: Financial Debt(s) (Deuda(s) Financiera(s)) a) sums borrowed in the short, medium, and long term; b) funds raised through the issuance of bonds, certificates of deposit, promissory notes, or other debt instruments; c) funds raised pursuant to any other transaction (including forward sales and purchases) having the economic effect of a loan; d) a possible obligation to pay by way of personal guarantee, guarantee, or other commitment. | | | | Designates an entire day, Business Day(s) (Día(s) Hábil(es)) Sundays and public holidays, where banks open in Paris and are a TARGET Day if it concerns a date on which a Disbursement must be made. | except Saturdays and | | | TARGET Day (Día TARGET) | Designates a day on which the Trans-European Automated Real-Time Gross Settlement Express Transfer system 2 (TARGET 2), or any successor to said system, is open for payments in Euros. | | | Project Documents (Documentos del Proyecto) | means the Public Policy Matrix (MPP, for its acronym in Spanish), the Results Matrix, the Verifiable Matrix, the Technical Cooperation Program, | | | | Significant Adverse Effect (Efecto Significativo Desfavorable) | Designates a significant and adverse effect on: (a) the Project such that it compromises the continuity of the Project in accordance with the Agreement | | | | (b) the activity, assets, financial situation of the Borrower, or its capacity to fulfill its obligations under the Agreement | | | | (c) the validity or enforceability of the Agreement; or | | | | (d) The Lender's rights and remedies under the Agreement. | | | | Embargo (Embargo) | Designates any commercially natured sanction that prohibits imports and or exports (supply, sale, or transfer) of one or several types of goods, products, or services destined to and/or originating from a State for a | | | | | determined period, and as published and modified by the United Nations, The European Union, or France. | | | Financial Indebtedness (Endeudamiento financiero) | means any financial debt by and with respect to: a) Any money borrowed in the short, medium, or long term; b) Sums raised through the issuance of bonds, promissory notes, debentures, loan stocks or any other similar instrument; c) Funds raised under any other transaction (including any forward purchase agreement) having the commercial effect of a loan; d) Any possible payment obligation resulting from a guarantee, surety, or any other instrument. | | | Reference Financial Institution (Establecimiento Financiero de Referencia) | Designates an institution stably chosen as a reference by the Lender and that regularly and publicly publishes, in one of the international financial information dissemination systems, its financial instrument quotations according to usages recognized by the banking profession. | | | EURIBOR | Designates the interbank rate applying to the Euro for deposits in Euros for a term comparable to the Interest Period as determined by the European Money Markets Institute, or any successor organization, at 11:00 a.m., Brussels time, two Business Days before the first day of the Interest Period. | | | Euro(s) or EUR | Designates the single European currency of the member States of the European Economic and Monetary Union, including France, and having legal tender in said States. | | | Payment Dates (Fechas de Pago) | Designate May 31 and November 30 of each year. | | | Disbursement Deadline (Fecha límite del Desembolso) | means March 23, 2021, the date from which no further Disbursements may occur. | | | Disbursement Date (Fecha de Desembolso) | refers to the date on which the Lender makes available a Disbursement of funds. | | | Effective Date (Fecha de Entrada en Vigor) | means the date on which the obligations under this Agreement will enter into force after the fulfillment, within a reasonable period, of the formalities required by Costa Rican legislation, including the corresponding legislative approval. | | | Rate Fixing Date (Fecha de Fijación de Tasas) | Designates: I - in the case of an Interest Period for which an Interest Rate must be fixed: | | | (i) the first Wednesday (or the following Business Day if it is a holiday) following the date of receipt by the Lender of the complete Disbursement Request, if the Disbursement Request was received by the Lender at least two (2) Business Days before said Wednesday; (ii) the second Wednesday (or the following Business Day if it is a holiday) following the date of receipt by the Lender of the complete Disbursement Request, if the Disbursement Request was received by the Lender at least two (2) Business Days before the first Wednesday. II - in the case of a Rate Conversion: | | --- | --- | | | (i) the first Wednesday (or the following Business Day if it is a holiday) following the date of receipt by the Lender of the Rate Conversion Request sent by the Borrower, if this date is more than two (2) Business Days before the first Wednesday. | | | (ii) the second Wednesday (or the following Business Day if it is a holiday) following the date of receipt by the Lender of the Rate Conversion Request sent by the Borrower if this date is not more than two (2) Business Days before the first Wednesday. | | Signing Date (Fecha de Firma) | Designates the date of signature of the Agreement by all the Parties. | | Project Completion Date (Fecha de Terminación del Proyecto) | means the date of technical completion of the Program, expected to be December 31, 2022. | | Fraud (Fraude) | Designates any unfair maneuver (action or omission) seeking to deliberately deceive the other party, intentionally conceal elements from them, or surprise or vitiate their consent, circumvent legal or regulatory obligations, and/or violate the internal rules of the Borrower or a third party to obtain an illegitimate benefit | | Fraud against the financial interests of the European Community (Fraude contra los intereses financieros de la Comunidad Europea) | refers to any intentional act or omission intended to harm the budget of the European Union and relating to: i) the use or presentation of false, inaccurate, or incomplete statements or documents, which have the effect of misappropriating or wrongfully retaining funds or any illegal retention of resources from the general budget of the European Union; ii) non-disclosure of information with the same effect; and iii) the misuse of those | funds for purposes other than those for which they were originally granted.
Public Official (Funcionario Público) | Designates (i) any person holding a legislative, executive, administrative, or judicial mandate, whether by appointment or elected, permanently or not, remunerated or not, and regardless of their hierarchical level, (ii) any person defined as a public official in the internal law of the Borrower, (iii) any person exercising a public function, including for a public body or a public enterprise, or providing a public service.
Tax (Impuesto) | Designates any tax, contribution, fee, duty, or other expense or withholding of a comparable nature (including any penalty or interest payable for a failure or delay in the payment of one of the taxes mentioned above).
Early Repayment Compensation (Indemnización Compensatoria de Reembolso Anticipado) | Designates the compensation calculated by applying the following percentage to the portion of the Credit repaid early:
- if the repayment occurs before the fifth anniversary (excluded) of the Signing Date: two point five percent (2.5%); - if the repayment occurs between the fifth anniversary (included) and the tenth anniversary (excluded) of the Signing Date: two point zero percent (2.0%); - if the repayment occurs between the tenth anniversary (included) and the fifteenth anniversary (excluded) of the Signing Date: one point seventy-five percent (1.75%); Payment System Disruption (Interrupción de los Sistemas de Pago) | Designates one and/or the other of the following events:
(a) a significant disruption of the payment systems or communication systems of the financial markets through which it is necessary to pass in order to carry out Disbursements (or more generally to carry out the operations provided for by the Agreement) which is not the act of a Party and which is outside the control of the Parties; (b) any event involving a disruption of the treasury or payment operations of a Party (whether of a technical nature or linked to the malfunctioning of the systems) and which would prevent this Party or any other Party:
(i) from proceeding with payments owed by the Party involved under the Agreement; or | (ii) from communicating with the other Parties in accordance with the terms of the Agreement; provided that this event is not attributable to one of the Parties and is outside the control of the Parties. | | | --- | --- | | Sanctions List (Lista de las Sanciones Financieras) | Designates the lists of persons, groups, or entities subject to financial sanctions by the United Nations, the European Union, and France. Solely for informational purposes, and without the Borrower being able to prevail itself of the references set forth hereinafter: For the United Nations, the lists can be consulted at the following address: | | | https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/es/sanctions/un-sc-consolidated-list For the European Union, the lists can be consulted at the following address: | | | https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_en/8442/Consolidated%20list%20of%20sanctions For France, see: | | | https://www.tresor.economie.gouv.fr/Ressources/sanctions-financieres-internationales | | | Margin (Margen) | means one hundred thirty basis points (130 bp) per year | | Illicit Origin (Origen Ilícito) | Designates an origin of funds coming: (i) from underlying predicate offenses to money laundering as designated by the glossary of the 40 FATF recommendations "designated categories of offenses" (http://www.fatf-gafi.org/fr/glossaire/); (ii) from Acts of Corruption; or (iii) from Fraud against the Financial Interests of the European Communities. | | | Website (Página Internet) | Designates the AFD internet page http://www.afd.fr/ or any other internet portal that would replace it. | | | Interest Period (Período de Intereses) | Designates a period running from one Payment Date (excluded) to the following Payment Date (included). For each Disbursement under the Credit, the first interest period shall run from the Disbursement date (excluded) to the first following Payment Date (included). | | | Availability Period (Período de Disponibilidad) | Designates the period running from the Signing Date to the Disbursement Deadline (Fecha Límite de Desembolso). | | --- | --- | | Disbursement Period (Período de Desembolso) | Designates the period running from the Date of the first Disbursement to the earliest of the following dates: - the date on which the Available Credit equals zero; - the Disbursement Deadline. | | | Grace Period (Periodo de Gracias) | refers to the period between the Signing Date and the date falling sixty (60) months after said date, during which no principal repayment is due or payable under the Credit. | | | Market Disturbance (Perturbación del Mercado) | Designates the occurrence of one of the following events: (i) the EURIBOR was not determined by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE), at 11:00 a.m. Brussels time, two Business Days before the first day of the Interest Period considered; or (ii) at the close of the relevant interbank market, the Borrower receives two (2) Business Days before the first day of the Interest Period considered a notification from the Lender according to which (i) the cost it incurs to obtain the corresponding deposits in the relevant interbank market is higher than the EURIBOR for the corresponding Interest Period or (ii) in the framework of its current management operations, it cannot and will not be able to have the corresponding deposits available in the interbank market in question, to finance the Disbursement during the term in question. | | | Financing Plan (Plan de Financiamiento) | Designates the financing plan for the Project as attached in Annex 3 (Financing Plan). | | | Project (Proyecto) | Designates the Project as described in Annex 2 (Description of the Project and the Cooperation Program). | | Withholding at Source (Retención en la Fuente) | Designates a deduction or a withholding as Tax applicable to a payment under the Agreement. | | | Rate Conversion Request (Solicitud de Conversión de Tasa) | Designates substantially a request in the form of the model attached in Annex 5C (Model Rate Conversion Request). | | | Disbursement Request (Solicitud de Desembolso) | Designates substantially a disbursement request in the form of the model attached in Annex 5A (Model Disbursement Request). |
- a)"assets" refers to property, income, and rights of any nature, present or future; b) any reference to the "Borrower", a "Party" or the "Lender" includes its successors, assignees; c) any reference to the Agreement, another convention, or any other act is understood to be the document as eventually amended, ratified, or supplemented and including, if applicable, any act substituting it by way of novation, in accordance with the Agreement.
- d)"indebtedness" is understood to mean any obligation to pay or repay a sum of money, incurred by any person (as principal or as guarantor) whether immediately due or at term, definitive or conditional; e) "guarantee" is understood to mean any surety, endorsement, or any autonomous guarantee, independent of the debt to which it refers; f) "person" is understood to mean any natural person, company, partnership, government, State or subdivision of a State, as well as any association or grouping of several of such persons, with or without legal personality; g) "regulation" designates any legislation, regulation, rule, decree, official instruction or circular, any requirement, decision, or recommendation (whether or not having binding force) emanating from any governmental, intergovernmental, or supranational entity, any supervisory authority, independent administrative authority, agency, directorate, or other division of any other authority or organization (including any regulation emanating from an industrial and commercial public establishment) that has an effect on the Agreement or on the rights and obligations of a Party; h) any reference to a legal provision is understood to mean this provision as eventually amended; i) unless otherwise stipulated, any reference to a time of day is understood to be Paris time.
- j)the titles of Chapters, Articles, and Annexes are indicated for convenience only and do not influence the interpretation of the Agreement; k) unless otherwise stipulated, a term used in another document in relation to the Agreement or in a notice under the Agreement shall have the same meaning as in the Agreement; l) an Event of Default is "ongoing" if it has not been remedied or if the persons who may avail themselves of it have not waived it; m) a reference to an Article or an Annex is a reference to an Article or Annex of the Agreement.
- n)words in the plural include the singular and vice versa.
1 Objectives and components The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the country's progressive transition towards zero net Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, benefiting the entire population through reforms to: (i) strengthen the management and monitoring of climate action in CR; (ii) conserve and restore ecosystems with high GHG capture and replace emitting agricultural practices with GHG-fixing ones; and (iii) incentivize the use of electric energy. Under these subsectors, the necessary policy reforms for the implementation of the National Decarbonization Plan (Plan Nacional de Descarbonización) will be supported, providing fungible resources to the Borrower to support the reform program.
Beneficiaries. Society in general will benefit through the creation of the necessary conditions for reducing net GHG emissions, which will mitigate climate change, and reducing air pollution from internal combustion vehicles. In particular, the local populations of the Golfo de Nicoya will benefit through improved sustainable management of mangroves, increasing resilience to climate risks, and agricultural producers will benefit by improving resilience to climate disasters, droughts, and flooding by implementing climate-smart agriculture (CSA).
2 Special conditions precedent to the initiation of the disbursement of the first and single Disbursement Tranche. AFD will only initiate the disbursement of the resources corresponding to the first and single Disbursement Tranche after the following conditions have been met, to the satisfaction of AFD, in addition to the conditions and requirements established in Annex 4:
2.1 Management of climate action (a) That a coordination process has been defined to follow up on the implementation of the PD with the participation of MIDEPLAN, Ministerio de Hacienda and MINAE, and they generate guidelines for the existing governance structures.
(b) That MINAE has submitted the National Decarbonization Plan to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for its registration as the Long-Term Strategy (LTS) of Costa Rica.
2.2 Monitoring of climate action (c) That MINAE has issued the official Data Management protocol of the National Climate Change Metrics System (SINAMECC).
(d) That MINAE has sent to the legal directorates of the Ministerio de Justicia and the MAG the proposed decree creating the National Land Cover, Land Use, and Ecosystems Monitoring System (SIMOCUTE).
2.3 Conservation and restoration of high-carbon ecosystems (e) That MINAE has initiated the process of extending Payments for Environmental Services (Pago de Servicios Ambientales, PSA) to Payments for Ecosystem Services (PSE) through the approval of a work plan for the impact assessment of the PSA and the design of a PSE, which must be financially sustainable, including the extension of the incentive mechanism to other environmental services, an estimate of the resources necessary for its implementation, and the identification of funding sources.
(f) That MINAE has approved and that the decree on Guiding Principles for the Productive Forestry Sector is in force, establishing the: (i) Promotion of timber cultivation and agroforestry systems; (ii) Standardization of procedures for forestry development; and (iii) Development of a National Strategy against Illegal Logging.
(g) That MINAE has advanced in the process of approving a Decree for the creation of the National Forests and Rural Development Program (PNBRD), through its referral to the Presidency of the Republic of Costa Rica.
(h) That SINAC has approved the regulation establishing the Management and Conservation of Mangroves in the Golfo de Nicoya, which must contain, at least: Regional Strategy for the Mangroves of the Golfo de Nicoya 2019-2030 (ERMGN) and its action plan; and (ii) Management Plan for the Humedal Estero de Puntarenas.
(i) That the Viceministerio de Aguas y Mares of MINAE has carried out and presented the proposal for the Blue Carbon Strategy to the Office of the Minister of MINAE.
2.4 Climate-Smart Agriculture (j) That the MAG has initiated the implementation of the actions foreseen in the MAG-MINAE Emissions Reduction Agreement on Climate-Smart Agriculture and the commitments in the National Decarbonization Plan, through the following activities: (i) Start of the monitoring process for the 2010-2021 Agri-Food Sector Policy and the 2015-2020 Low-Carbon Livestock Strategy; (ii) Validation of the agro-environmental approach of the new Coffee Policy of Costa Rica by the Congreso Nacional Cafetalero; (iii) Application of the guidelines of the 2012 NAMA coffee by at least 25% of producers (8,000 out of 34,000 producers), and at least 20% (60 out of 260) of the processing mills that process 50% of national production; (iv) Design and validation of at least one NAMA (rice, sugarcane, or musaceae) and the updating of the Coffee NAMA, by the public and private sector; and (v) Progress in the Implementation of the MAG-MINAE Sectoral Emissions Reduction Agreement.
(k) That the agro-environmental governance framework has been strengthened through: (i) the Agreement signed between MAG and MINAE to guarantee comprehensive attention to agricultural producers; (ii) the Formation of a high-level MAG-MINAE commission to supervise the implementation of the Agreement; and (iii) the Approval by FONAFIFO of a mixed payment mechanism that allows the incorporation of agricultural producers.
2.5 Updating of electric tariffs (l) That ARESEP has approved and has in force a service costing mechanism that enables the electrification of energy uses in the industrial, residential, or commercial sectors.
(m) That the MINAE-MOPT have approved and published a National Electric Transportation Plan that outlines a regulatory roadmap to advance towards the objective of vehicle fleet electrification.
(n) That the MINAE-MOPT have created and have in force a regulatory framework that provides non-fiscal incentives for the use of electric vehicles.
(o) That MINAE has approved and published a regulation establishing: (i) deployment targets for a network of electric charging stations for electric cars; and (ii) technical modalities for the construction and operation of the electric charging station network by electric energy distribution companies.
3 Technical cooperation program AFD confirmed its commitment to support, through non-reimbursable technical assistance, the policy reform process agreed upon under this operation, for the period 2020-2022, specifically on the following topics: i) strengthening the management and monitoring of climate action, the skills of key actors in the implementation of the PND, and the development of methodologies for formulating green budgets based on markers that allow for the identification of resources allocated to climate action; ii) nature-based solutions and climate-smart agriculture; electric mobility with a focus on the management and disposal of batteries at the end of their useful life and air quality monitoring.
MINAE (Dirección de Cambio Climático - DCC) will be the coordinator of this technical cooperation program.
| Amount (MUSD) | |
|---|
| AFD | Equivalent in EUROS of 150MUSD |
| IDB | 230MUSD |
| Total | 380MUSD |
In relation to the set of documents submitted by the Borrower under the conditions precedent listed below:
- if the document sent is not an original but a copy, the original of the authenticated copy must be delivered to the Lender; - the final versions of the documents, the drafts of which were previously communicated to the Lender and accepted by the latter, must not reveal any substantial difference in relation to the drafts communicated and accepted previously; - documents that have not been previously communicated and accepted by the Lender must be considered satisfactory by the latter in both substance and form.
PART I - CONDITIONS PRECEDENT TO BE FULFILLED BY THE DATE OF SIGNATURE (a) Delivery by the Borrower to the Lender of the following documents:
(i) A certified copy of the decision(s) required pursuant to the legislation of the Borrower's country:
- authorizing the Borrower to enter into the Agreement; - approving the terms and conditions of this Agreement; - approving the execution of this Agreement; and - authorizing one or more persons to sign the Agreement on its behalf and for its account.
These conditions shall be fulfilled by the delivery of the following documents:
- the approval of the "Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica" - the approval of the central bank of Costa Rica - the approval of the budgetary authority; - the document granting full powers to the Borrower to execute the Agreement together with the specimen signature of the person authorized to execute the Agreement.
(b) Receipt by the Lender of a draft legal opinion adjudged satisfactory by the Lender in both substance and form rendered by an independent law firm (previously approved by the Lender) of the Borrower's country.
PART II - CONDITIONS PRECEDENT FOR THE FIRST DISBURSEMENT (a) Delivery by the Borrower to the Lender of:
(i) The documents evidencing the fulfillment of any formalities or approvals required by Costa Rican legislation for the provisions of this Agreement to be fully applicable, including the relevant legislative approval and its publication in the official gazette; (ii) The documents evidencing the fulfillment of all requirements for filing or registration, deposit or publication of this Agreement and the payment of all stamp duties, registration fees or similar duties in connection with this Agreement, if applicable; (iii) A legal opinion issued by the Procuraduría General de la República that is satisfactory to the Lender; (iv) A certificate issued by a duly authorized representative of the Borrower listing the person(s) (i) authorized to sign, on behalf and for the account of the Borrower, the Disbursement Requests and any certificate in connection with this Agreement and to take all other steps and/or sign all other documents necessary on behalf and for the account of the Borrower under this Agreement (ii) together with a specimen of the signature of the aforementioned persons; (v) The documents evidencing that the total amount of the Facility is included in the Borrower's budget.
(b) Evidence of the payment of all fees and expenses due under the Agreement.
(c) The documents evidencing the fulfillment of the indicators set out in part 2 of Schedule 2 (Program Description).
(d) Delivery to the Lender of a duly executed legal opinion, in form and substance satisfactory to the Lender, from a reputable law firm (previously approved by the Lender) acting as legal advisors in the Borrower's country.
SCHEDULE 5A - FORM OF DISBURSEMENT REQUEST [On the Borrower's letterhead] To: AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT Date: [Date] Name of Borrower - Credit Agreement No. [●] dated [●] Disbursement Request No. [●] Dear Sirs:
1. We refer to the Credit Agreement No. [●] entered into between the Borrower and the Lender, on [●] (hereinafter, the "Agreement"). Capitalized terms and expressions used in this request but not defined shall have the same meaning as in the Agreement.
2. We irrevocably request the Lender to make a Disbursement under the following conditions:
Amount: [●] EUR or, if less, the Available Credit.
Interest Rate: [fixed or variable] 3. The Interest Rate shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 (Interest) and 5 (Change in the calculation of Interest) of the Agreement. The Interest Rate applicable to the requested Disbursement will be communicated to us in writing and we accept such Interest Rate [(subject, if applicable, to the application of the following paragraph)], even if the Interest Rate is determined by reference to a Replacement Rate plus any Adjustment Spread as notified by the Lender following the occurrence of a Screen Rate Replacement Event.
[For Fixed Interest Rate only]: If the fixed Interest Rate applicable to the requested Disbursement exceeds [●insert percentage in words] ([●] %), we request that this Disbursement Request be cancelled.
4. We confirm that each condition mentioned in Article 2.4 (Conditions precedent) has been fulfilled as of the date of this Disbursement Request and that no Event of Default is continuing or is likely to occur. In the event that any of the aforementioned conditions is not fulfilled prior to or on the Disbursement Date, we undertake to immediately notify the Lender of such situation.
5. The Disbursement shall be credited to the following account:
(a) Name [of Borrower]: [●] (b) Address [of Borrower]: [●] (c) IBAN account number: [●] (d) SWIFT number: [●] (e) Bank and bank address [of Borrower]: [●] (f) Correspondent bank and account number of the Borrower's bank: [●] 6. This Disbursement Request is irrevocable.
7. We attach hereto all relevant supporting documents specified in Schedule 4 (Conditions Precedent) of the Agreement:
[List of supporting documents]
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Authorized signature of the Borrower SCHEDULE 5B - FORM OF DISBURSEMENT AND RATE CONFIRMATION LETTER [On Agence Française de Développement letterhead] To: [the Borrower] Date: [Date] Ref: Disbursement Request No. [●] dated [●] Name of Borrower - Credit Agreement No. [●] dated [●] Disbursement Confirmation No. [●] Dear Sirs:
1. We refer to the Credit Agreement No. [●] entered into between the Borrower and the Lender, on [●] (hereinafter, the "Agreement"). Capitalized terms and expressions used in this request but not defined shall have the same meaning as in the Agreement.
2. By a Disbursement Request Letter dated [●], the Borrower requested the Lender to make available a Disbursement in the amount of [●] EUR, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement.
3. We present below the details of the Disbursement that has been made available in accordance with your Disbursement Request:
. Amount: [● amount in words] Euros ( [●] EUR) . Applicable interest rate: [● percentage in words] ([●]%) per annum [equal to the aggregate of the six-month EURIBOR (equal to [●]% per annum) 2 plus the Margin].
2 If the six-month EURIBOR is not available on the disbursement confirmation date due to the occurrence of a Screen Rate Replacement Event, the Replacement Rate, the precise terms and conditions for replacing such Rate with a Replacement Rate, and the corresponding total effective rates will be communicated to the Borrower in a separate letter.
. Total annual effective rate of the Facility (per year): [● percentage in words] ([●]%) . Disbursement Date: [●] For fixed interest rate loans only For informational purposes only:
. Rate Setting Date: [●] . Reference Rate: [● percentage in words] ([●]%) per annum . Reference Rate on the Rate Setting Date: [● percentage in words] ([●]%) per annum
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Authorized signature of Agence Française de Développement SCHEDULE 5C - FORM OF RATE CONVERSION REQUEST [On the Borrower's letterhead] To: AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT Date: [Date] Name of Borrower - Credit Agreement No. [●] dated [●] Disbursement Request No. [●] Dear Sirs:
1. We refer to the Credit Agreement No. [●] entered into between the Borrower and the Lender, on [●] (hereinafter, the "Agreement"). Capitalized terms and expressions used in this request but not defined shall have the same meaning as in the Agreement.
2. In accordance with the provisions of Article 4.1.3 (i) (Conversion of a Variable Interest Rate to a fixed Interest Rate) of the Agreement, we request you to convert the Variable Interest Rate of the following Disbursement(s): . [list the Disbursements concerned] to a fixed Interest Rate under the conditions provided for in the Agreement.
3. This rate conversion request shall be deemed null and void if the applicable fixed Interest Rate exceeds [insert percentage in words] [[●] %]. Sincerely, ...........................................................
Authorized signature of the Borrower SCHEDULE 5D - FORM OF RATE CONVERSION CONFIRMATION [On Agence Française de Développement letterhead] To: [the Borrower] Date: [Date] Ref: Rate Conversion Request No. [●] dated [●] Name of Borrower - Credit Agreement No. [●] dated [●] Rate Conversion Confirmation No. [●] Dear Sirs:
SUBJECT: Conversion of the Variable Interest Rate to the fixed Interest Rate 1. We refer to the Credit Agreement No. [●] entered into between the Borrower and the Lender, on [●] (hereinafter, the "Agreement"). Capitalized terms and expressions used in this request but not defined shall have the same meaning as in the Agreement.
2. In response to your Rate Conversion Request dated [●], we hereby inform you that the fixed Interest Rate applicable to the Disbursement(s) for which you requested the conversion of the Variable Interest Rate to a Fixed Interest Rate, pursuant to Article 4.1.3 (i) (Conversion at the request of the Borrower) of the Agreement, is: . [●]% per year.
3. This fixed Interest Rate, calculated in accordance with the stipulations of Article 4.1.1 (ii) (Selection of the fixed Interest Rate), shall apply to the Disbursement(s) for which you requested the conversion from Variable Interest Rate to Fixed Interest Rate as from [●] (effective date).
4. Furthermore, we inform you that the total annual effective rate of the Facility is [●]%.
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Authorized signature of Agence Française de Développement SCHEDULE 6 - LIST OF INFORMATION THAT THE BORROWER FORMALLY AUTHORIZES TO BE PUBLISHED BY THE LENDER AND THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT ON THEIR WEBSITES 1. Information relating to the Project:
- Identifier (number and name) in the AFD's books; - Description; - Sector of activity; - Place of implementation; - Expected start date; - Expected date of Technical Completion; - Status of progress updated semi-annually; 2. Information relating to the financing of the Project:
- Type of financing (loan, grant, co-financing, delegation of funds); - Amount of the Facility; - Annual amount of disbursements; - Estimated amounts of disbursements over 3 years; and - Amount of the Facility that has been disbursed (updated as the implementation of the Project progresses); 3. Other information:
- Transaction information notice and/or transaction operation communication note attached to this Schedule.