At the Symposium on International Fiscal Data Exchange held on 16 November, Commissioner Šemeta spoke on the importance of promoting good governance in the area of tax. He noted that the EU must step up its fight against tax fraud and tax evasion, and continue to lead the campaign for good governance which implies a reinforced cooperation on exchange of information.

The Commissioner sees enhanced transparency by means of automatic exchange of information as the way forward as automatic exchange of information permits tax authorities to obtain information on their own tax residents in cases where they might not otherwise be aware of such cross-border investments. In his speech the Commissioner said that “it is much more interesting for a tax authority to receive comprehensive information about the assets owned by its residents abroad than to receive only a withholding tax on the income produced by such assets.” A proposal to improve exchange of information is still pending in the Council. Once adopted, it will ensure that bank secrecy can no longer be invoked to refuse administrative assistance according to Commissioner Šemeta. For the full details of the speech see http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/653&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en