The Convention was developed by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988 as a comprehensive and multilateral instrument for the cooperation on tax matters, particularly tax evasion. The Convention was amended by the Protocol in 2010 to respond to the call of the G20 following the London Summit in April 2009.
Since 2009, and most recently in 2013 at its Leaders Summit, the G20 has consistently been encouraging countries to sign the Convention. Its amendment in 2010 served to make it aligned to the international standard on the exchange of tax information and provide a more transparent environment for developing countries. It was then opened for signature on the 1st June 2011. Thus, the amended Convention enables international cooperation so that international tax laws are applied in a better way, respecting the fundamental rights of taxpayers – through administrative cooperation between states in collecting tax exchange of information on the recovery of foreign tax.
Automatic exchange is the international standard on exchange of information related to tax. This was developed on the G20's call through the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information. Authorities from 79 jurisdictions have signed a Multilateral Agreement under Article 6 of the Convention, specifying the details of what information is to be exchanged and when.
At present, 92 jurisdictions take part in the Convention, and it has also been extended to 15 other jurisdictions. This number includes all the G20, BRIICS, nearly all OECD, major financial centres and various developing countries. Senegal is the latest country to join the Convention after the country's Minister of Finance, Amadou Ba, signed the Convention.
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