Article 21 - Protection of persons and limits to the obligation to provide assistance - OECD Member Countries

ARTICLE 21 PROTECTION OF PERSONS AND LIMITS TO THE OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE 1. Nothing in this Convention shall affect the rights and safeguards secured to persons by the laws or administrative practice of the requested State. 2. Except in the case of Article 14, the provisions of this Convention shall not be construed so as to impose on the requested State the obligation: (a). to carry out measures at variance with its own laws or administrative practice or the laws or administrative practice of the applicant State; (b). to carry out measures which would be contrary to public policy (ordre public); (c). to supply information which is not obtainable under its own laws or its administrative practice or under the laws of the applicant State or its administrative practice; (d). to supply information which would disclose any trade, business, industrial, commercial or professional secret, or trade process, or information the disclosure of which would be contrary to public policy (ordre public); (e). to provide administrative assistance if and insofar as it considers the taxation in the applicant State to be contrary to generally accepted taxation principles or to the provisions of a convention for the avoidance of double taxation, or of any other convention which the requested State has concluded with the applicant State; (f). to provide administrative assistance for the purpose of administering or enforcing a provision of the tax law of the applicant State, or any requirement connected therewith, which discriminates against a national of the requested State as compared with a national of the applicant State in the same circumstances; (g). to provide administrative assistance if the applicant State has not pursued all reasonable measures available under its laws or administrative practice, except where recourse to such measures would give rise to disproportionate difficulty; (h). to provide assistance in recovery in those cases where the administrative burden for that State is clearly disproportionate to the benefit to be derived by the applicant State. 3. If information is requested by the applicant State in accordance with this Convention, the requested State shall use its information gathering measures to obtain the requested information, even though the requested State may not need such information for its own tax purposes. The obligation contained in the preceding sentence is subject to the limitations contained in this Convention, but in no case shall such limitations, including in particular those of paragraphs 1 and 2, be construed to permit a requested State to decline to supply information solely because it has no domestic interest in such information. 4. In no case shall the provisions of this Convention, including in particular those of paragraphs 1 and 2, be construed to permit a requested State to decline to supply information solely because the information is held by a bank, other financial institution, nominee or person acting in an agency or a fiduciary capacity or because it relates to ownership interests in a person.