Article 7 - POSSIBILITY OF DECLINING A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - Belize

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; or (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: (i) 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; or (ii) to obtain or provide information, which would reveal confidential communications between a client and an attorney, solicitor or other admitted legal representative where such communications are: (a) produced for the purposes of seeking or providing legal advice or (b) produced for the purposes of use in existing or contemplated legal proceedings; or (iii) 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. 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 Parly 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 requested Party shall not decline to provide information solely because the request does not include all the information required under Article 5 if the information can otherwise be provided according to the law of the requested Party.