Article 7 - Possibility of Declining a Request for information - Bahamas

ARTICLE 7 POSSIBILITY OF DECLINING A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 1. The competent authority of the requested Party may decline to assist: (a) where the request is not made in conformity with this Agreement; (b) where the requesting Party has not pursued all means available in its own territory to obtain the information, except where recourse to such means would give rise to disproportionate difficulty; or (c) where disclosure of the information would be contrary to public policy (ordre public) of the requested Party. 2. This Agreement shall not impose on a Contracting Party the obligation: (a) to supply information which would disclose any trade, business, industrial, commercial or professional secret or trade process, provided that information described in paragraph 4 of Article 5 shall not be treated as such a secret or trade process merely because it meets the criteria in that paragraph; (b) to carry out administrative measures at variance with its laws and administrative practices, provided nothing in this subparagraph shall affect the obligations of a Contracting Party under paragraph 4 of Article 5; or (c) to obtain or provide information which would reveal confidential communications between a client (or his admitted legal representative) and a professional legal advisor where such communications are: (i) produced for the purposes of seeking or providing legal advice; or (ii) produced for the purposes of use in existing or contemplated legal proceedings. Information held with the intention of furthering a criminal purpose is not subject to legal privilege, and nothing in this Article shall prevent a professional legal advisor from providing the name and address of a client where doing so would not constitute a breach of legal privilege. 3. A request for information shall not be refused on the ground that the tax claim giving rise to the request is disputed. 4. The requested Party shall not be required to obtain and provide information which the requesting Party would be unable to obtain in similar circumstances under its own laws for the purpose of the administration or enforcement of its own tax laws or in response to a valid request from the requested Party under this Agreement. 5. The Contracting Parties agree that, if an information request under the Agreement is believed to be deficient in some respect, while other parts of the request meet the requirements of the Agreement, the competent authority of the requested Party will provide the information that is responsive to that part of the request that meets the requirements of the Agreement. 6. The requested Party may decline a request for information if the information is requested by the applicant Party to administer or enforce a provision of the tax law of the applicant Party, or any requirement connected therewith, which discriminates against a national of the requested Party as compared with a national of the applicant Party in the same circumstances.