Requisition of information under the Egmont Protocol - Income Tax - F.No.290/54/2016-Dir,(Inv.IV)/4130

F.No.290/54/2016-Dir,(Inv.IV)/4130 Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue Central Board of Direct Taxes Room No. 505, Fifth Floor, C Block, Civic Centre, New Delhi- 110002. Date:15.03.2019 To, All DGsIT (Inv.), DGIT (I CI) Sir, Sub : Requisition of information under the Egmont Protocol Kindly refer to the above. 2. During the recent past, the number of requests sent under the Egmont Protocol have increased considerably, however, in absence of any consolidated instruction of CBDT in this regard, there is still a considerable lack of awareness about the Egmont Framework of Information Exchange through FIU. In view of the same, this communication is being issued to provide a comprehensive reference point for making all future Egmont references. 3. About the Egmont Group and when to use it: The Egmont Group is an informal network of FIUs established with a view to have international cooperation including information exchange in the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism. Requests under Egmont protocol can be made for gathering information especially in cases involving foreign jurisdictions with whom no DTAA/ TIEA/Multilateral agreement is in existence. Currently, FIUs of 159 countries are part of the Egmont Group. The FIUs of the Group exchange information in accordance with Egmont Principles for Information Exchange and Operational Guidance for FIUs. The information sharing arrangement aims to foster the widest possible co-operation between FIUs, 4. Nodal Officer in CBDT to whom Egmont Requests are to be sent: The Investigation Directorates through CBDT, Nodal Officer, may request-information available with FIUs of other countries through FIU-IND (the Indian FIU) using the information exchange mechanism of the Egmont Group. For the purpose of information from Egmont Group through FIU-IND, the Nodal Officer in CBDT is the Director/Deputy Secretary (Investigation-IV), CBDT, Room No.504, C-Block,, Dr. S. P Mukherjee Civic Centre, Minto Road New Delhi - 110002 [email ID: [email protected]] Requests in this regard should be sent through the PDIT(Inv.) concerned to the Nodal Officer in CBDT who, after examining the request, will forward it to FIU-IND. 5. Format for making request: 5.1 Request for information is to be made in the prescribed proforma( copy enclosed). In the proforma, with regard to section of Requestor Information, the signature in the first table should be of the concerned ADIT/DDIT and the following table should contain the signature of the authorizing official/i.e the PCIT/ PDIT (Inv.) concerned. 5.2 The FIU-IND has conveyed that with regard to information to be sought through Egmont requests, the soft copy of the request be also sent along with the hard copy and Jurisdiction name from where information is being sought be specified too in the covering letter. It is also conveyed that if there is more, than one jurisdiction, then separate jurisdiction-wise Egmont request be made. 5.3 Requests may be sent in duplicate copies in the proforma. 6. Basic Ingredients of the Request: In order to ensure an early response by the foreign jurisdiction to the requests made under Egmont Protocol, it is essential that the following basic ingredients are fulfilled so that the request can be executed expeditiously without the need to seek any further clarification from the requesting State/ FIU-IND: (i) While sending the request, best efforts should be made to provide complete, factual and, as appropriate, legal information including the description of the case being analyzed and the potential link with the county receiving the request. This includes indicating any need for urgency, to enable timely and efficient execution of the requests. (ii) The purpose /reason of making the request must be clearly mentioned and to the extent possible, the purpose for which the information will be used may be provided to enable the FIU receiving the request to provide information lawfully. (iii) Requests for information that are sent simultaneously to several jurisdictions should be justified with a clear explanation of the link that involves the specific set of countries. Requests for information should not be sent to large distribution lists if the link is not justifiable to all recipients. 7. Maintenance of confidentiality of information as per MoU with FIU and its further usage: It may be further brought to the notice of all concerned that the above sharing of information between CBDT and FIU is based on Memorandum of Understanding and both the organizations are bound by it. The Memorandum of Understanding between CBDT and FIU-IND prescribes maintenance of strict confidentiality of information received from FIU-IND. As per the MoU, CBDT has agreed to ensure that the information disseminated by FIU-IND, whether in paper or electronic form, including the source of information , is protected from unauthorized use and proliferation and kept confidential, throughout the chain of transmission of the information . Further, while disseminating the information, CBDT is required to ensure that dissemination is done on need to know basis and such information will not be transferred to a third party without prior consent of the party from whom information was received . Further, information received form FIU-IND will not be used as evidence in any departmental or judicial proceedings and the identity of the entity from whom Information has been received or the name of the officer who has forwarded the information, shall not be disclosed, in any departmental or judicial proceedings . 7.1. In this regard, the undersigned is directed to reiterate that the source of information as FIU or foreign agency is not to be disclosed in any of the communications and all references to this effect may be mentioned as credible information have been received to the effect that.. . It may be noted that India is under international commitment to maintain strict confidentiality in respect of information shared by the foreign disclosing agencies and any breach in this regard may cause an irreparable damage, even leading to stoppage of information sharing by the foreign jurisdictions and approaching Egmont Group for compliance action against FIU-IND. 8. Feedback on information received: It is expected by the foreign requested State that a feedback on the information shared shall be sent by the Requesting agency upon receipt of information, The feedback helps in the process of improvisation of the information exchange mechanism and any future sharing of Information also hinges on the feedback provided by the requesting agency. In some cases, the foreign jurisdiction declined to provide further information without first receiving a feedback on the information already shared. 8.1Feedback is to be provided to CBDT for onward transmission in the proforma sent along with the response received through FIU-IND. 9. In this regard, the undersigned is directed to request that while sending such requests henceforth, the soft copy thereof may kindly be sent by mail simultaneously to the undersigned at [email protected]. The forwarding mail may also contain the name of the jurisdiction from where the information is being sought and that separate requests should be made if the information is being sought from more than one jurisdiction. 10. This issues with the approval of the Chairman, CBDT [i/e Member (Inv.)]. Encl: As above Yours faithfully, (Pankaj Khanna) DCIT(OSD)(Inv.-IV), CBDT