On 28 April, the European Commission adopted a Communication identifying how “good governance” in the tax area could be improved within the EU and at international level. The document builds on existing EU policy and the recent G20 conclusions.

According to the press release, the Commission calls on Member States to adopt as soon as possible its recent proposals to:

• Ensure effective administrative cooperation in the assessment of taxes which would, in particular, prohibit Member States in future from invoking bank secrecy laws as a justification for not assisting the tax authorities of other Member States;
• Ensure administrative cooperation in the recovery of tax claims;
• Improve the functioning of the Savings Tax Directive. There is a need to extend the scope of the Directive to intermediate tax-exempted structures (trust, foundations, etc.) and to income equivalent to interest obtained through investments in some innovative financial products.

The Commission also calls on Member States to continue the work to eliminate harmful business tax measures under the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation.

The Communication is available at http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/common/whats_new/COM(2009)201_en.pdf.