- 1.
- The competent authority of the requested party may decline to assist:
-
- a)where the request is not made in conformity with this Agreement;
- b)where the requesting party has not pursued all means available in its own territory to obtain the information, except where recourse to such means would give rise to disproportionate difficulty; or
- c)where the disclosure of the information requested would be contrary to public policy.
- 2.
- This Agreement shall not impose upon a requested party any obligation to provide items subject to legal privilege, or any trade, business, industrial, commercial or professional secret or trade process, provided that information described in Article 4, paragraph 4, shall not by reason of that fact alone be treated as such a secret or trade process.
- 3.
- A request for information shall not be refused on the ground that the tax claim giving rise to the request is disputed.
- 4.
- The requested party shall not be required to obtain and provide information which if the requested information was within the jurisdiction of the requesting party the competent authority of the requesting party would not be able to obtain under its laws or in the normal course of administrative practice.
- 5.
- The requested party may decline a request for information if the information is requested by the requesting party to administer or enforce a provision of the tax law of the requesting party, or any requirement connected therewith, which discriminates against a national or citizen of the requested party as compared with a national or citizen of the requesting party in the same circumstances.
