Article 7 - Possibility of Declining a Request for Information - Brunei Darussalam

Article 7 Possibility of Declining a Request for Information 1. A Contracting Party shall not be required to obtain or provide information that the other Contracting Party would not be able to obtain under its own laws for purposes of the administration or enforcement of its own tax laws. The competent authority of a Contracting Party may decline to assist where the request is not made in conformity with this Agreement. 2. The provisions of this Agreement shall not impose on a Contracting Party the obligation to supply information which would disclose any trade, business, industrial, commercial or professional secret or trade process. Notwithstanding the foregoing, information of the type referred to in Article 5, paragraph 4 shall not be treated as such a secret or trade process merely because it meets the criteria in that paragraph. 3. The provisions of this Agreement shall not impose on a Contracting Party the obligation 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. 4. A Contracting Party may decline a request for information if the disclosure of the information would be contrary to public policy (ordre public). 5. A request for information shall not be refused on the ground that the tax claim giving rise to the request is disputed. 6. A Contracting Party may decline a request for information if the information is requested by the other Contracting Party to administer or enforce a provision of the tax law of that other Contracting Party, or any requirement connected therewith, which discriminates against a national of the first-mentioned Contracting Party as compared with a national of the other Contracting Party in the same circumstances.