Common use of Certification Period Clause in Contracts

Certification Period. Under the 2014 QI Agreement and the Proposed QI Agreement, the initial certification period ends at the end of the third full calendar year that the agreement is in effect. Each subsequent certification period is three full calendar years thereafter. A comment to the Proposed QI Agreement requested that the initial certification period be shortened and/or the second certification period be extended, so that the initial certification period would end on December 31, 2016, the termination date of the 2014 QI Agreement. Because the certification periods include any renewals of the QI agreement, it is not necessary that the certification period and an interim termination date be the same. In addition, the proposed solution fails to address cases of those QIs that had QI agreements with effective dates in 2015 and 2016. As a result, the 2017 QI Agreement does not incorporate this change. Another comment to the Proposed QI Agreement requested that a QI be allowed to apply the provisions of the 2014 QI Agreement to its initial certification period for purposes of making the initial periodic certification of compliance and providing the factual information required. This comment was not adopted because the 2014 QI Agreement, unlike the 2017 QI Agreement, does not contain compliance provisions and requirements specific enough for a QI to apply that agreement to its initial compliance period and provide the factual information required with the periodic certification. With respect to the requirement in Part II.F of Appendix I of the Proposed QI Agreement that a QI certify to its FATCA status, a comment requested clarification whether the requirement that the QI certify to its FATCA status over the certification period meant certification period or calendar year. As having an appropriate FATCA status is a prerequisite to enter into a QI agreement and to maintain the agreement, a QI is required to certify to its FATCA status for the entire certification period and not just the calendar year selected for the periodic review.