Businesses with Technology Transfer Agreement (TTA) have been urged to register with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) in order for the Centre to protect their innovations and for the facilitation of information dissemination.
GIPC is a state agency mandated under Act 865 to register, monitor and keep records of all TTAs.
As the GIPC Act applies to all enterprises in Ghana, companies with TTAs in all sectors of the economy are obliged to submit their TTAs to GIPC.
This is applicable even for companies with sector specific regulators such as Banks – Bank of Ghana, Telcos – National Communications Authority, Mining – Minerals Commission, Petroleum – Petroleum Commission, iIsurance – National Insurance Commission and many others.
A TTA is an agreement between a Ghanaian and foreign entity when the foreign firm or enterprise transfers its technology, expertise and know-how or facilities to another company in Ghana for a term of not less than 18 months and not more than 10 years.
GIPC is in partnership with the Ghana Revenue Authority, Bank of Ghana, and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to ensure the successful implementation of the TTA.
Speaking at the first quarter CEO’s Breakfast meeting in Accra, Head of Legal Division at GIPC, Naa Lamle Orleans-Lindsay, in stressing the importance of TTAs said it is illegal to operate a business with TTA without registering with GIPC.
Mrs Orleans-Lindsay said the Centre protects the business activities of these registered companies and in return increases the country’s Foreign Direct Investment.
“Registering a TTA with the GIPC is a Primary legal obligation that companies who have such agreement must comply by. When you register with the GIPC it legalizes the transfer of monies on the local company to the foreign company providing the service. If you don’t do so transfers are illegal. Also it assists you with the GRA transfer pricing and also prevents you from getting penalties slapped on you for noncompliance with GIPC Act” Mrs Oleans-lindsay Intimated.
A Chief Manager of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Ghana, Philip Danso said the implications for transferring funds under unregistered TTAs endangers the depreciation of the Ghanaian currency. He said with effective monitoring such activities will be controlled.
Mr. Danso added that “the Bank of Ghana has a constitutional mandate, which is spelt out in Article 183 to promote and maintain stability in the Ghanaian currency. It is the constitutional mandate of the Bank of Ghana and you know the impact and effect of foreign exchange on the local currency. If you are transferring funds in a manner that is not structured or in a manner that is not reckoned by the system, it may have adverse impact of the local currency. As a regulator, the Bank of Ghana’s approval is also required before the renewal of a registered TTA”.
A Representative of GRA, Nana Akua Mensah explained that Companies with TTAs make their operations easy for tax collection and also enjoy tax deductions.
“You will realise that by the time an entity has gone through the vetting process of registering the TTA, there are a lot of less issues with TTA’s that come to us for tax purposes. Because of the similarity between our work and the GIPC, we always encourage entities to make sure they are registered with the GIPC. If they are related entities, they cannot benefit from under the simplified approach until registration and audit makes them more compliant” Nana Akua Mensah added.
Story by: Mabel Adorkor Annang
