PURPOSE: to conclude, on behalf of the European Union,
the Amending Protocol to the Agreement between the European
Community and San Marino providing for measures equivalent to those
laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings
income in the form of interest payments
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLEOF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the
act after consulting the European Parliament but without being
obliged to follow its opinion.
BACKGROUND: following the adoption of Council
Directive 2003/48/EC (the Savings Directive), and in order to
preserve the level playing field of economic operators, the EU
signed an Agreement with San Marino providing for measures
equivalent to those laid down in the Directive.
The importance of automatic exchange of
information as a means to combat cross-border tax fraud and tax
evasion has also been recognised at the international level. The
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
was mandated by the G20 to develop a single global standard
for automatic exchange of financial account information (Global
Standard). The OECD Council released the Global Standard in July
2014.
Following the adoption of a proposal to update the
Savings Directive, the Commission adopted on 17 June 2011 a
recommendation for a mandate to initiate negotiations with
several countries, including San Marino, in order to upgrade the
EUs Agreements with those countries in line with
international developments and to ensure that those countries
continue to apply measures equivalent to those in the EU. On 14 May
2013, the Council reached an agreement on the Negotiating
Mandate.
On the basis of a proposal presented by the Commission
in June 2013, the Council adopted Directive
2014/107/EU amending Directive 2011/16/EU and extending the
mandatory automatic exchange of information between EU tax
authorities to a full range of financial items in accordance with
the Global Standard.
As Directive 2014/107/EU is generally broader in scope
than Directive 2003/48/EC and provides that in cases of overlap of
scope, Directive 2014/107/EU prevails, the Commission adopted a proposal
to repeal Directive 2003/48/EC.
The Commission considers it crucial to ensure that the
amendment of the existing
Savings Agreement with San Marino is in line with EU
and international developments. This will be the legal basis for
implementing the OCDE Global Standard on automatic exchange of
information between San Marino and the EU.
CONTENT: with this proposal, the Council is called
upon to approve, on behalf of the EU, the Protocol amending
the Agreement between the European Community and San Marino
providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council
Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings income in the form of
interest payments. The Amending Protocol implements the OECD
Global Standard between EU Member States and San Marino. It
contains a new set of provisions comprising 10 Articles, an Annex I
that reflects the OECD Common Reporting Standard which is part of
the Global Standard, an Annex II that reflects important parts of
the OECD Commentaries to the Global Standard, an Annex III that
reflects the additional data protection safeguards to be put in
place as regards data collection and exchanges under the Agreement,
and an Annex IV that lists the Competent Authorities of San Marino
and of each Member State.
The new Articles reflect the articles of the OECD
Model Competent Authority agreement for the implementation of the
Global Standard. It includes, inter
alia:
- a full set of provisions on exchange of information
upon request that follows the latest text of the OECD Model Tax
Convention;
- a more detailed set of provisions on data
protection;
- provisions on amendments to the Agreement, including a
quick mechanism for provisional application by one of the
Contracting Parties of amendments to the Global Standard, on the
condition of consent by the other Party
The Amending Protocol includes provisions on the entry
into force and application. First exchanges in 2017 for
information collected in 2016 (with the exception of Austria,
which will undertake such exchanges one year later).
The Amending Protocol also deals with issues on the
transition from the existing Agreement to the amended Agreement,
with regard to requests for information, credits available to
beneficial owners for withholding tax, final payments of
withholding tax by San Marino to Member States and final exchanges
of information under the voluntary disclosure mechanism.