- 1
- The competent authority of the requested Party shall provide upon request information for the purposes referred to in Article 1. Such information shall be exchanged without regard to whether the conduct being investigated would constitute a crime under the laws of the requested Party if such conduct occurred in the requested Party.
- 2
- If the information in the possession of the competent authority of the requested Party is not sufficient to enable it to comply with the request for information, the requested Party shall use all relevant information gathering measures to provide the applicant Party with the information requested, notwithstanding that the requested Party may not need such information for its own tax purposes.
- 3
- If specifically requested by the competent authority of the applicant Party, the competent authority of the requested Party shall provide information under this Article, to the extent allowable under its domestic laws, in the form of depositions of witnesses and authenticated copies of original records.
- 4
- Each Contracting Party shall ensure that its competent authority, for the purposes of this Agreement, has the authority to obtain and provide upon request:
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- a)information held by banks, other financial institutions, and any person, including nominees and trustees, acting in an agency or fiduciary capacity;
- b)information regarding the legal and beneficial ownership of companies, partnerships, foundations, “Anstalten” and other persons, including, within the constraints of Article 2, ownership information on all such persons in an ownership chain; in the case of trusts, information on settlors, trustees, beneficiaries and the position in an ownership chain; in the case of foundations, information on founders, members of the foundation council and beneficiaries.
- 5
- This Agreement does not create an obligation on the Contracting Parties to obtain or provide:
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- (i)ownership information with respect to publicly traded companies or public collective investment funds or schemes unless such information can be obtained without giving rise to disproportionate difficulties;
- (ii)information relating to a period more than six years prior to the tax period under consideration;
- (iii)information, unless the applicant Party has pursued all means available in its own territory to obtain the information, except those that would give rise to disproportionate difficulties;
- (iv)information in the possession or control of a person other than the taxpayer that does not directly relate to the taxpayer.
- 6
- Where the applicant Party requests information in accordance with this Agreement, a senior official of the competent authority of the applicant Party shall certify that the request is relevant to, and necessary for, the determination of the tax liability of the taxpayer under the laws of the applicant Party.
- 7
- The competent authority of the applicant Party shall provide the following information to the competent authority of the requested Party when making a request for information under this Agreement to demonstrate the relevance of the information sought to the request:
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- a)the identity of the taxpayer under examination or investigation;
- b)grounds for believing that the information requested is in the possession or control of a person subject to the jurisdiction of the requested Party;
- c)to the extent known, the name and address of any person believed to be in possession or control of the information requested;
- d)a statement that the request conforms to the law and administrative practice of the applicant Party and would be obtainable by the applicant Party under its laws in similar circumstances, both for its own tax purposes and in response to a valid request from the requested Party under this Agreement;
- e)a statement that the applicant Party has pursued all means available in its own territory to obtain the information, except those that would give rise to disproportionate difficulties;
- and, to the fullest extent possible:
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- f)the nature and type of the information requested, including a description of the specific evidence, information or other assistance sought and the form, in which the applicant Party prefers to receive the information;
- g)the tax purposes for which the information is sought and why it is relevant to the determination of the tax liability of a taxpayer under the laws of the applicant Party;
- i)the period of time with respect to which the information is required for the tax purposes.
- 8
- The competent authority of the requested Party shall forward the requested information as promptly as possible to the applicant Party. To ensure a prompt response, the competent authority of the requested Party shall:
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- a)Confirm receipt of a request in writing to the competent authority of the applicant Party and shall notify the competent authority of the applicant Party of deficiencies in the request, if any, within 60 days of the receipt of the request.
- b)If the competent authority of the requested Party has been unable to obtain and provide the information within 90 days of receipt of the request, including if it encounters obstacles in furnishing the information or it refuses to furnish the information, it shall immediately inform the applicant Party, explaining the reason for its inability, the nature of the obstacles or the reasons for its refusal.
