Regional meeting in Dakar on the implementation of the BEPS Project for francophone African countries

24/02/2016 - On 22-23 February 2016, a regional network meeting on the implementation of the BEPS package was held in Dakar (Senegal), by the OECD in partnership with the CREDAF (Centre de Rencontres et d'Etudes des Dirigeants des Administrations Fiscales).

The event was hosted by the Senegal revenue agency (Direction Générale des Impôts et des Domaines) and it focused on the presentation and discussion on the BEPS reports published on 5 October 2015 and on the inclusive framework, in which all interested countries and jurisdictions will be able to participate to the Committee on Fiscal Affairs' work on an equal footing with OECD and G20 members to work on the remaining standard-setting under the BEPS Project, as well as on the review and monitoring of the implementation of the BEPS package.

This regional consultation follows those organised in 2014 and 2015 in Africa (Gabon, Senegal), the Asia-Pacific region (South Korea, Indonesia), Latin America (Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica) and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Turkey, Georgia),  which had as an objective to engage developing countries in the work to fight against BEPS. These regional network meetings also contributed to the implementation of the BEPS package.

73 participants attended the meeting in Dakar, representing 16 francophone countries, mostly African, as well as organisations such as the CEMAC, the WAEMU, the UNDP and the European Commission. Representatives of civil society also participated in the debates, including NGOs Oxfam and Transparency International, as well as Senegalese business organisations and some multinational enterprises operating in Senegal.

The Director General of the Senegal revenue agency, Mr. Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ba, and the CREDAF President and Director General of the Democratic Republic of the Congo revenue agency, Mr. Dieudonné Lokadi Moga, delivered well-received opening speeches. The CREDAF Secretary General, Mr. Didier Cornillet, welcomed the new inclusive framework and called the CREDAF member countries to join it to ensure that they can benefit from their participation on an equal footing to the BEPS standard setting work. The representative of the European Commission, Mr. Hubert Perr, also invited the participating countries to be part of the inclusive framework in order to monitor the work to tackle BEPS.

The meeting also highlighted the importance of supporting the implementation of the BEPS package, particularly in developing countries, through the development and provision of practical toolkits that address the priority challenges that they have identified.

The recommendations of the CREDAF Working Group on BEPS, established in 2015 to define common positions on BEPS issues, were also presented. The Group previously met in Kinshasa in May 2015 and was hosted in the OECD facilities in Paris in November 2015.

Media enquiries should be addressed to Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, and Valerio Barbantini, Co-ordinator for the developing countries engagement in the BEPS Project.

For further information, please visit www.oecd.org/tax/beps.htm.