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Taxation and Customs Union

International developments

EU co-operation with European third countries and with some dependent and associated territories of the Member States

Directive 2014/107/EU implements a single Global Standard which has been developed by the OECD, with the active contributions of the EU and its Member States, for the automatic exchange of financial account information. The standard was adopted by the OECD in July 2014 and endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers in September 2014 for worldwide application. The existing Savings taxation agreements with 5 European third countries (Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland) have been updated to take into account the automatic exchange of financial account information based on the Global Standard. This represents a significant step forward for the European Union in its fight to combat tax fraud and evasion, and ensures a level playing field between financial institutions in these European third countries and financial institutions in the EU which are required to implement Directive 2014/107/EU. A common feature of the five revised agreements is reciprocity which was not foreseen in the original Savings taxation agreements.

The table below provides a summary of the current status of these updated agreements.

Jurisdiction

Agreement signed

Agreement enters into force (including due diligence))

Amending Protocol and Council Decisions

Principality of Andorra

12/02/2016

01/01/2017

Amending Protocol attached to Council Decision (EU) 2016/1751 (OJ L268/2016) on conclusion.

Principality of Liechtenstein

28/10/2015

01/01/2016

Amending Protocol attached to Council Decision (EU) 2015/2453 (OJ L339/2015) on conclusion.

Monaco

12/07/2016

01/01/2017 (provisional application pending conclusion – full entry into force on 01/02/2017)

Amending Protocol attached to Council Decision (EU) 2016/1392 on signature and provisional application (OJ L225/2016).
Council Decision 2016/1830 on conclusion adopted on 11/10/2016 (OJ L280/2016).

Republic of San Marino

08/12/2015

01/01/2016 (provisional application pending conclusion - full entry into force on 01/06/2016)

Amending Protocol attached to Council Decision (EU) 2015/2469 on signature and provisional application (OJ L346/2015).
Council Decision 2016/828 on conclusion adopted on 21/04/2016 (OJ L140/2016).

Swiss Confederation

27/05/2015

01/01/2017

Amending Protocol attached to Council Decision (EU) 2015/2400 (OJ L333/2015) on conclusion.

Documents and links

  • Press release on EU-Switzerland agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information
  • Press release on EU-Liechtenstein agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information
  • Press release on EU-San Marino agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information
  • Press release on EU-Andorra agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information
  • Press release on the initialling of the EU-Monaco agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information

Cooperation between the EU Member States and relevant dependent/ associated territories

At the occasion of the European Council meeting in Santa Maria de Feira (Portugal) on 19 and 20 June 2000, all Member States endorsed unanimously adopted conclusions by the ECOFIN Council according to which the Member States concerned (those with dependent or associated territories) were committed to promote the adoption “in all relevant dependent or associated territories (the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, and the dependent or associated territories in the Caribbean)” of the same measures of cooperation set to be applied in the European Union with the purpose of enabling the taxation of income from financial accounts held by taxpayers outside their Member State of residence.
As all these territories and all the Member States are parties to the multilateral instruments set at the OECD and Global Forum level for implementing the Global Standard for the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information, the conditions are met for ensuring a continuing cooperation in tax matters.

Agreement signed on 17 February 2014 between the European Union and France acting on behalf of Saint-Barthélemy ensuring the continuing application by the island of the EU current and future acquis in the field of taxation of savings and administrative cooperation between tax authorities.

By virtue of a Decision taken by the European Council on 27 October 2010, the European Union acknowledged the changing institutional position of the island of Saint-Barthélemy in its relationships with the French Republic and also amended the status of this island with regard to the European Union. With effect from 1 January 2012, the island ceased to be an outermost region within the territory of the European Union and is now a dependent/associated territory of France, covered by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union only to the limited extent provided for the other above mentioned territories included in Annex II to the Treaty. An agreement signed on 17 February 2014 between the European Union and France acting on behalf of Saint-Barthélemy ensures the continuing application by the island of the EU current and future acquis in the field of taxation of savings and administrative cooperation between tax authorities.