Protocol - Protocol - Guernsey

Protocol The Government of the Republic of India and the States of Guernsey (the Contracting Parties ) have agreed at the signing of the Agreement between the two Governments for the Exchange of Information with respect to Taxes on the following provisions which shall form an integral part of the said Agreement: (1) The competent authorities may take into consideration the commentaries pertaining to the 2002 Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD Model Agreement) when interpreting provisions of the Agreement that are identical to the provisions in that OECD Model Agreement. (2) For the purpose of paragraph 7 of Article 5, it is understood that the competent authority of the requested Party shall: ( a ) confirm receipt of a request in writing to the competent authority of the requesting Party and shall notify the competent authority of the requesting Party of deficiencies in the request, if any, within 60 days of the receipt of the request; ( b ) if the competent authority of the requested Party has been unable to obtain and provide the information within 90 days of receipt of the request, including if it encounters obstacles in furnishing the information or it refuses to furnish the information, it shall immediately inform the requesting Party, explaining the reason for its inability, the nature of the obstacles or the reasons for its refusal. (3) The term extraordinary costs in Article 10 of the agreement shall be interpreted as follows: ( a ) Examples of extraordinary costs include, but are not limited to, the following: ( i ) reasonable costs of reproducing and transporting documents or records to the Competent Authority of the requesting Party; ( ii ) reasonable fees imposed by a financial institution or other third party record keeper for copying records and research related to a specific request for information; ( iii ) reasonable costs for stenographic reports of interviews, depositions or testimony; ( iv ) reasonable fees and expenses, determined in accordance with amounts allowed under applicable law, of a person who voluntarily appears in India or Guernsey for an interview, deposition or testimony relating to a particular information request; and ( v ) reasonable legal fees for non-government counsel appointed or retained with approval of the Competent Authority of the requesting Party, for litigation in the courts of the requested Party related to a specific request for information; ( b ) extraordinary costs do not include ordinary administrative and overhead expenses incurred by the requested Party in reviewing and responding to information requests submitted by the requesting Party. In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto, have signed this Protocol. DONE in duplicate at London on this Twentieth day of December, 2011, each in the Hindi, and English languages, both texts being equally authentic. In case of divergence of interpretation, the English text shall prevail.