On July 16, 2021, the Financial and Economic Analysis Unit (UAFE) issued resolution No. UAFE-DG2021-0230, which included, as new subjects obliged to report to said institution, natural and legal persons engaged in: i) the negotiation and commercialization of precious metals or stones, pursuant to Article 27 (g) of the Mining Law (1) ; (ii) metal processing (beneficiation plants); (iii) those engaged in the import and export of precious metals or stones; and (iv) those engaged in the manufacture and commercialization of jewelry.

From that Resolution it could initially be understood that a legal entity, which was not in the phase of commercialization of minerals, was not obliged to the UAF.

Criteria for the application of UAFE and SCVS

A few days ago, the Superintendence of Companies, Securities and Insurance – SCVS – and the UAFE issued a resolution on the obligation to report to the UAFE of mining companies that are not in the
commercialization phase.
The UAFE, in its resolution, held that any company whose corporate purpose includes the commercialization of minerals, even if it is not carrying out such activity, is an obligated subject before the UAFE.

General obligations of obliged entities

Therefore, according to the criteria of the aforementioned authorities, any company whose corporate purpose includes the commercialization of minerals must comply in general with the following obligations:

a) Information Reports: Obligated entities will begin to submit information reports on
their activities to the UAFE. If they are not carrying out commercialization activities, they must submit the so-called “NO RESU” reports.
b) Compliance Officer: Obligated entities must register a compliance officer.
c) Registration code: They will need to obtain their registration code from the
authorities (UAFE and SCVS).

AVL Abogados has a team specialized in the prevention of money laundering, including compliance officers in the mining sector, so we will be happy to answer any questions you may have about this and any other matter
related to the mining sector.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

1 Article 27.- Phases of mining activity.- For the purposes of application of this law, the phases of mining activity are: g) Commercialization, which consists of the purchase and sale of minerals or the execution of other contracts for the purpose of negotiating any product resulting from mining activity.