The Council of Europe/OECD Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters

The Convention was developed jointly by the Council of Europe and the OECD and opened for signature by the members states of both organisations on 25 January 1988. The Parties to the Convention are presently Azerbaijan, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Canada and Ukraine have signed the Convention and are awaiting ratification.

The object of the Convention is to promote international co-operation for a better operation of national tax laws, while respecting the fundamental rights of taxpayers. The Convention is framed so as to provide for all possible forms of administrative co-operation between states in the assessment and collection of taxes, in particular with a view to combating tax avoidance and evasion. This co-operation ranges from exchange of information to the recovery of foreign tax claims.

The explanatory report was prepared by the committee of experts and transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the Council of OECD, as amended by the European Committee on Legal Co-operation. This report does not constitute an instrument providing an authoritative interpretation of the text of the Convention although it may facilitate the understanding of the Convention's provisions.

The deposited declarations by the Parties to the Convention include:

Annex A: the taxes to which the Convention would apply.
Annex B: the competent authorities.
Annex C: definitions of the word "national" for the purpose of the Convention.
Any reservations lodged.

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• Convention (Text only or  convention with explanatory report)
• The present status of the convention