Ratification by France and Italy of the joint OECD/Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters

The Convention was ratified by Italy on 27 January 2005 and by France on 1 March 2005. After the deposit of their instruments of ratification, France and Italy will join the 10 existing Parties to the Convention: Azerbaijan, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United States. Canada and the Ukraine signed the Convention in 2004 but have not yet ratified it.
According to the Italian Parliament, “This multilateral Convention represents one of the most comprehensive and efficient instruments at the disposal of tax administrations to counteract international tax evasion as it contains provisions for exchange of information, simultaneous tax examinations, assistance in tax collection and service of documents. It also contains rules on the confidentiality of information and on the safeguard of taxpayers’ rights”.
For similar reasons, the French Parliament considers “it is useful for France to join the Convention for three main reasons: its multilateral dimension broadens the possibilities and efficiency of cooperation between countries; it provides for and strengthens taxpayers’ rights and allows for assistance in tax collection which is rarely covered in bilateral tax conventions. Finally, the Convention provides a set of rules for the service of documents, an international administrative practice which is not well defined.”