belgiquelex.be - Carrefour Bank of Legislation 26 DECEMBER 2013. - An Act to approve the Agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium and Saint Lucia for the Exchange of Tax Information, made in Brussels on December 7, 2009 (1) (2) (3)
PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1
er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium and Saint Lucia for the exchange of information in tax matters, made in Brussels on 7 December 2009, will come out its full and full effect.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given at Ciergnon, December 26, 2013.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs,
D. REYNDERS
Minister of Finance,
K. GEENS
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. A. TURTELBOOM
____
Notes
(1) Senate (www.senate.be):
Documents: 5-2136.
Annales du Senate : July 17, 2013, July 18, 2013.
House of Representatives (www.lachambre.be):
Documents: 53-2982.
Full report: 14 November 2013.
(2) See the Decree of the Flemish Community/ Flemish Region of 7 June 2013 (Belgian Monitor of 9 July 2013), the Decree of the French Community of 4 July 2013 (Belgian Monitor of 23 July 2013), the Decree of the German-speaking Community of 24 June 2013 (Belgian Monitor of 25 July 2013), the Decree of the Walloon Region of 10 July 2013 (Belgian Moniteur of 31 July 2013) and the
(3) Effective Date: February 20, 2014.
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM AND SAINT LUCIA
FOR THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION RELATING TO TAX MATTERS
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM
AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF SAINT LUCIA,
DESIRING to facilitate the exchange of information with respect to taxes,
HAVE AGREED as follows:
Article 1
Object and Scope of the Agreement
The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall provide assistance through exchange of information that is foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws of the Contracting Parties concerning taxes covered by this Agreement. Such information shall include information that is foreseeably relevant to the determination, assessment and collection of such taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation or prosecution of tax matters. Information shall be exchanged in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement and shall be treated as confidential in the manner provided in Article 8. The rights and safeguards secured to persons by the laws or administrative practice of the requested Party remain applicable to the extent that they do not unduly prevent or delay effective exchange of information.
Article 2
Jurisdiction
A Requested Party is not obligated to provide information which is neither held by its authorities nor in the possession or control of persons who are within its territorial jurisdiction.
Article 3
Tax Covered
1. The taxes which are the subject of this Agreement are all taxes imposed or administered by either Contracting Party including any identical or substantially similar taxes imposed after the date of signature of the Agreement.
2. This agreement shall also apply to taxes imposed in Belgium by its political subdivisions or local authorities from the date on which Belgium shall notify the other Contracting Party through diplomatic channels that Belgium agrees on such application.
Article 4
Definitions
1. For the purposes of this Agreement, unless otherwise defined:
a) the term "Contracting Party" means Saint Lucia or Belgium as the context requires;
(b) the term "Saint Lucia" means the country of Saint Lucia;
(c) the term "Belgium" means the Kingdom of Belgium; used in a geographical sense, it means the territory of the Kingdom of Belgium, including the territorial sea and any other area in the sea and in the air within which the Kingdom of Belgium, in accordance with international law, exercises sovereign rights or its jurisdiction;
d) the term "competent authority" means
i) in the case of Saint Lucia, the Minister of Finance or the Minister's authorised representative;
(ii) in the case of Belgium, the Minister of Finance or his authorised representative;
e) the term "person" includes an individual, a company and any other body of persons;
f) the term "company" means any body corporate or any entity that is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;
g) the term "publicly traded company" means any company whose principal class of shares is listed on a recognised stock exchange provided its listed shares can be readily purchased or sold by the public. Shares can be purchased or sold "by the public" if the purchase or sale of shares is not implicitly or explicitly restricted to a limited group of investors;
h) the term "principal class of shares" means the class or classes of shares representing a majority of the voting power and value of the company;
(i) the term "recognised stock exchange" means any stock exchange agreed upon by the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties;
j) the term "collective investment fund or scheme" means any pooled investment vehicle, irrespective of legal form. The term "public collective investment fund or scheme" means any collective investment fund or scheme provided the units, shares or other interests in the fund or scheme can be readily purchased, sold or redeemed by the public. Units, shares or other interests in the fund or scheme can be readily purchased, sold or redeemed "by the public" if the purchase, sale or redemption is not implicitly or explicitly restricted to a limited group of investors;
(k) the term "tax" means any tax to which the Agreement applies;
(l) the term "applicant Party" means the Contracting Party requesting information;
m) the term "requested Party" means the Contracting Party requested to provide information;
n) the term "information gathering measures" means laws and administrative or judicial procedures that enable a Contracting Party to obtain and provide the requested information;
(o) the term "information" means any fact, statement or record in any form whatever;
p) the term "criminal tax matters" means tax matters involving intentional conduct which is liable to prosecution under the criminal laws of the applicant Party;
q) the term "criminal laws" means all criminal laws designated as such under domestic law irrespective of whether contained in the tax laws, the criminal code or other statutes.
2. The term "Anstalten" for the purposes of the Agreement shall be interpreted in accordance with paragraphs 52 and 53 of the Commentary to the OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters.
3. As regards the application of this Agreement at any time by a Contracting Party, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning that it has at that time under the law of that Party, any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that Party prevailing over a meaning given to the term under other laws of that Party.
Article 5
Exchange of Information Upon Request
1. The competent authority of the requested Party shall provide upon request information for the purposes referred to in Article 1. Such information shall be exchanged without regard to whether the conduct being investigated would constitute a crime under the laws of the requested Party if such conduct occurred in the territorial jurisdiction of the requested Party.
2. If the information in the possession of the competent authority of the requested Party is not sufficient to enable it to comply with the request for information, that Party shall use all relevant information gathering measures to provide the applicant Party with the information requested, notwithstanding that the requested Party may not need such information for its own tax purposes.
3. If specifically requested by the competent authority of an applicant Party, the competent authority of the requested Party shall provide information under this Article, to the extent allowable under its domestic laws, in the form of depositions of witnesses and authenticated copies of original records.
4. Each Contracting Party shall ensure that its competent authorities for the purposes specified in Article 1 of the Agreement, have the authority to obtain and provide upon request:
a) information held by banks, other financial institutions, and any person acting in an agency or fiduciary capacity including nominees and trustees;
b) information regarding the ownership of companies, partnerships, trusts, foundations, "Anstalten" and other persons, including, within the constraints of Article 2, ownership information on all such persons in an ownership chain; in the case of trusts, information on settlors, trustees and beneficiaries; and in the case of foundations, information on founders, members of the foundation council and beneficiaries. Further, this Agreement does not create an obligation on the Contracting Parties to obtain or provide ownership information with respect to publicly traded companies or public collective investment funds or schemes unless such information can be obtained without giving rise to disproportionate difficulties.
5. The competent authority of the applicant Party shall provide the following information to the competent authority of the requested Party when making a request for information under the Agreement to demonstrate the foreseeable relevance of the information to the request:
a) the identity of the person under examination or investigation;
b) a statement of the information sought including its nature and the form in which the applicant Party wishes to receive the information from the requested Party;
(c) the tax purpose for which the information is sought;
(d) grounds for believing that the information requested is held in the requested Party or is in the possession or control of a person within the jurisdiction of the requested Party;
e) to the extent known, the name and address of any person believed to be in possession of the requested information;
f) a statement that the request is in conformity with the law and administrative practices of the applicant Party, that if the requested information was within the jurisdiction of the applicant Party then the competent authority of the applicant Party would be able to obtain the information under the laws of the applicant Party or in the normal course of administrative practice and that it is in conformity with this Agreement;
g) a statement that the applicant Party has pursued all means available in its own territory to obtain the information, except those that would give rise to disproportionate difficulties.
6. The competent authority of the requested Party shall forward the requested information as promptly as possible to the applicant Party. To ensure a prompt response, the competent authority of the requested Party shall:
(a) Confirm receipt of a request in writing to the competent authority of the applicant Party and shall notify the competent authority of the applicant 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 applicant Party, explaining the reason for its inability, the nature of the obstacles or the reasons for its refusal.
Article 6
Tax Examinations Abroad
1. A Contracting Party may allow representatives of the competent authority of the other Contracting Party to enter the territory of the first-mentioned Party to interview individuals and examine records with the written consent of the persons concerned. The competent authority of the second-mentioned Party shall notify the competent authority of the first-mentioned Party of the time and place of the meeting with the individuals concerned.
2. At the request of the competent authority of one Contracting Party, the competent authority of the other Contracting Party may allow representatives of the competent authority of the first-mentioned Party to be present at the appropriate part of a tax examination in the second-mentioned Party.
3. If the request referred to in paragraph 2 is acceded to, the competent authority of the Contracting Party conducting the examination shall, as soon as possible, notify the competent authority of the other Party about the time and place of the examination, the authority or official designated to carry out the examination and the procedures and conditions required by the first-mentioned Party for the conduct of the examination. All decisions with respect to the conduct of the tax examination shall be made by the Party conducting the examination.
Article 7
Possibility of Declining a Request
1. The requested Party shall not be required to obtain or provide information that the applicant 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 the requested 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. The requested 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. The requested Party may decline a request for information if the information is requested by the applicant Party to administer or enforce a provision of the tax law of the applicant Party, or any requirement connected therewith, which discriminates against a national of the requested Party as compared with a national of the applicant Party in the same circumstances.
Article 8
Confidentiality
1. Any information received by a Contracting Party under this Agreement shall be treated as confidential and may be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including courts and administrative bodies) in the jurisdiction of the Contracting Party concerned with the assessment or collection of, the enforcement or prosecution in respect of, or the determination of appeals in relation to, the taxes covered by this Agreement. Such persons or authorities shall use such information only for such purposes. They may disclose the information in public court proceedings or in judicial decisions. The information may not be disclosed to any other person or entity or authority or any other jurisdiction without the express written consent of the competent authority of the requested Party.
2. In case of exchange of information in respect of an identified or identifiable individual, the provisions of Chapter 6, in particular the Article 199, of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the Cariforum States and the European Community and its Member States of 15 Ocotber 2008 shall be applied accordingly.
Article 9
Costs
Incidence of costs incurred in providing assistance shall be agreed by the Contracting Parties.
Article 10
Implementation Legislation
The Contracting Parties shall take all necessary legislative steps to comply with, and give effect to, the terms of the Agreement.
Article 11
Other international agreements or arrangements
The possibilities of assistance provided by this Agreement do not limit, nor are they limited by, those contained in existing international agreements or other arrangements between the Contracting Parties which relate to co-operation in tax matters.
Article 12
Mutual Agreement Procedure
1. Where difficulties or doubts arise between the Contracting Parties regarding the implementation or interpretation of the Agreement, the competent authorities shall endeavour to resolve the matter by mutual agreement.
2. In addition to the agreements referred to in paragraph 1, the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties may mutually agree on the procedures to be used under Articles 5 and 6.
3. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties may communicate with each other directly for purposes of reaching agreement under this Article.
4. The Contracting Parties may also agree on other forms of dispute resolution.
Article 13
Entry into Force
1. This Agreement shall enter into force when each Party has notified the other of the completion of its necessary internal procedures for entry into force. Upon entry into force, it shall have effect :
a) for criminal tax matters on that date; and
b) for all other matters covered in Article 1 on that date, but only in respect of taxable periods beginning on or after that date, or where there is no taxable period, all charges to tax arising on or after that date.
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 of this Article, paragraph 5, f) of Article 5 and the first sentence of paragraph 1 of Article 7 shall only have effect for both parties from the date on which Belgium shall notify Saint Lucia through diplomatic channels that Belgium has implemented legislation providing for the exchange of banking information for purposes of its own tax laws.
Article 14
Termination
1. Either Contracting Party may terminate the Agreement by serving a notice of termination either through diplomatic channels or by letter to the competent authority of the other Contracting Party.
2. Such termination shall become effective on the first day of the month following the expiration of a period of six months after the date of receipt of notice of termination by the other Contracting Party.
3. Following termination of the Agreement the Contracting Parties shall remain bound by the provisions of Article 8 with respect to any information obtained under the Agreement.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed the Agreement.
DONE at Brussels, on the 7th day of December 2009.
AGREEMENT RELATING TO THE BELGIUM ROYAUME AND ILUCY IN VUE OF INFORMATION IN FISCALE MATIERE
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BELGIUM ROYAUME
AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF SAINT-LUCIA,
ISSUES to facilitate the exchange of tax information,
AGAINST the following:
Article 1
erPurpose and scope of the Agreement
The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall provide assistance by the exchange of information likely relevant to the administration and application of the domestic legislation of the Contracting Parties relating to the taxes covered by this Agreement. This information is likely to be relevant to the determination, establishment and collection of these taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims or for tax investigations or prosecutions. The information shall be exchanged in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement and shall be treated as confidential in the manner provided for in Article 8. The rights and protections enjoyed by persons under the required legislative or regulatory provisions or administrative practices of the requested Party shall remain applicable to the extent that they incur or unduly delay an effective exchange of information.
Article 2
Jurisdiction
The requested Party does not have an obligation to provide information that is not held by its authorities or in the possession or control of persons under its territorial jurisdiction.
Article 3
Taxes targeted
1. The taxes covered by this Agreement shall be all taxes collected or administered by each Contracting Party, including identical or similar taxes that would be established after the date of signing of the Agreement.
2. This Agreement shall also apply to taxes collected in Belgium by its political subdivisions or local authorities from the date on which Belgium will notify the other Contracting Party through diplomatic channels that it consents to this application.
Article 4
Definitions
1. For the purposes of this Agreement, unless otherwise defined:
(a) the term "Contracting Party" means Saint Lucia or Belgium, depending on the context;
(b) the term "Saint Lucia" means the country of the same name;
(c) the term "Belgium" means the Kingdom of Belgium; used in a geographical sense, this term refers to the territory of the Kingdom of Belgium, including the territorial sea as well as the maritime areas and the airspace on which, in accordance with international law, the Kingdom of Belgium exercises sovereign rights or jurisdiction;
(d) the term "competent authority" means
(i) in respect of Saint Lucia, the Minister of Finance or the authorized representative of the Minister;
(ii) in respect of Belgium, the Minister of Finance or its authorized representative;
(e) the term "person" includes a natural person, a society and any other grouping of persons;
(f) the term "society" means any legal person or entity considered to be a legal entity;
(g) the term "listed company" means any corporation whose main class of shares is listed on a recognized stock exchange, the shares listed in the corporation to be purchased or sold easily by the public. Shares may be purchased or sold "by the public" if the purchase or sale of shares is not implicitly or explicitly restricted to a limited group of investors;
(h) the term "main class of shares" means the class(s) of shares representing the majority of the voting rights and the value of the corporation;
(i) the term "recognized scholarship" means any exchange agreed by the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties;
(j) the term "collective investment funds or arrangements" means any instrument of group placement, irrespective of its legal form. The term "public collective investment funds or arrangements" means any collective investment funds or devices whose shares, shares or other shares may be readily purchased, sold or redeemed by the public. Shares, shares or other participations in the fund or device can be easily purchased, sold or redeemed "by the public" if the purchase, sale or redemption is not implicitly or explicitly restricted to a limited group of investors;
(k) the term "tax" means any tax to which the Agreement applies;
(l) the term "Applicant Party" means the Contracting Party requesting the information;
(m) the term "Required Party" means the Contracting Party to which the information is requested;
(n) the term "measures for collecting information" means the legislative and regulatory provisions as well as administrative or judicial procedures that allow a Contracting Party to obtain and provide the requested information;
(o) the term "information" means any fact, statement or document, whatever its form;
(p) the term "in criminal tax matters" means any tax case involving an intentional act punishable by prosecution under the penal law of the requesting Party;
(q) the term "criminal law" means any criminal provision referred to as such in domestic law, which is contained in tax legislation, criminal legislation or other laws.
2. For the purposes of the Agreement, the term "Anstalten" must be interpreted in accordance with paragraphs 52 and 53 of the commentary on the OECD Model Tax Information Exchange Agreement.
3. For the purposes of this Agreement at any time by a Contracting Party, any term or expression not defined therein shall, unless the context requires a different interpretation, the meaning assigned to it at that time by the law of that Party, the meaning attributed to that term or expression by the applicable tax law of that Party in respect of the meaning assigned to it by the other branches of the law of that Party.
Article 5
Exchange of information on request
1. The competent authority of the requested Party shall provide the information on request for the purposes referred to in Article 1
er. Such information shall be exchanged, whether or not the act under investigation constitutes a criminal offence under the law of the requested Party if it had occurred in the territory of that Party.
2. If the information in the possession of the competent authority of the requested Party is not sufficient to enable it to respond to the request for information, that Party shall take all appropriate measures to collect information necessary to provide the requesting Party with the requested information, even if the requested Party does not require that information for its own tax purposes.
3. Upon specific request by the competent authority of a requesting Party, the competent authority of the requested Party shall provide the information referred to in this article, to the extent that its domestic law allows it, in the form of testimony of witnesses and certified copies in accordance with the original documents.
4. Each Contracting Party shall ensure that its competent authorities have the right, for the purposes referred to in Article 1 of the Agreement, to obtain and provide, upon request:
(a) information held by banks, other financial institutions and any person acting as an agent or trustee;
(b) information relating to the ownership of companies, partnership, trusts (trusts), foundations, "Anstalten" and other persons, including, within the limits of section 2, property information relating to all such persons when part of a chain of ownership; in the case of a trust (trust), information on the constituents (settlors), trustees (trustees) and beneficiaries and, in the case of a foundation, information on the founders, members of the board of the foundation and beneficiaries. In addition, this Agreement does not require Contracting Parties to obtain or provide property information relating to listed companies or public pooled funds or devices, unless such information may be obtained without causing disproportionate difficulties.
5. The competent authority of the requesting Party shall provide the following information to the competent authority of the requested Party when submitting a request for information under the Agreement in order to demonstrate the likely relevance of the requested information:
(a) the identity of the person under review or investigation;
(b) information on the information sought, including its nature and the form in which the requesting Party wishes to receive information from the requested Party;
(c) the tax purpose in which the information is requested;
(d) reasons that suggest that the information requested is held in the requested Party or is in the possession or control of a person within the jurisdiction of the requested Party;
(e) to the extent that they are known, the name and address of any person who is deemed to be in possession of the information requested;
(f) a statement stating that the application is in accordance with the legislative and regulatory provisions and administrative practices of the requesting Party, that, if the requested information falls within the jurisdiction of the requesting Party, the competent authority of that Party may obtain information under its law or within the normal framework of its administrative practices and that the application is in accordance with this Agreement;
(g) a statement stating that the requesting Party used to obtain the information all available means in its own territory, apart from those that would cause disproportionate difficulties.
6. The competent authority of the requested Party shall transmit the requested information to the requesting Party as soon as possible. To ensure a quick response:
(a) the competent authority of the requested Party shall acknowledge receipt of the request in writing to the competent authority of the requesting Party and, within 60 days from receipt of the request, notify that authority of any deficiencies in the application;
(b) if the competent authority of the requested Party has not been able to obtain and provide the information within 90 days of receipt of the request, including in the event that it encounters obstacles to providing the information or refuses to provide the information, it shall immediately inform the requesting Party of the information, the nature of the obstacles encountered or the reasons for its refusal.
Article 6
Foreign tax controls
1. A Contracting Party may authorize representatives of the competent authority of the other Contracting Party to enter its territory to interrogate physical persons and examine documents, with the written consent of the persons concerned. The competent authority of the Party mentioned in the second place shall notify the competent authority of the Party first mentioned the date and place of the meeting with the natural persons concerned.
2. At the request of the competent authority of a Contracting Party, the competent authority of the other Contracting Party may authorize representatives of the competent authority of the first Party to attend the appropriate phase of a tax control in the second Party.
3. If the application referred to in paragraph 2 is accepted, the competent authority of the Contracting Party conducting the control shall notify the competent authority of the other Party as soon as possible of the date and place of the control, the authority or official designated to conduct the control, and the procedures and conditions required by the first Party for the conduct of the control. Any decision on the conduct of tax control shall be taken by the Party conducting control.
Article 7
Possibility to decline a request
1. The requested Party is not required to obtain or provide information that the requesting Party may not obtain under its own right for the performance or application of its own tax legislation. The competent authority of the requested Party may refuse assistance when the request is not submitted in accordance with this Agreement.
2. The provisions of this Agreement shall not require a Contracting Party to provide information that would reveal a commercial, industrial or professional secret or a commercial process. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the type information referred to in section 5, paragraph 4, will not be treated as such a secret or commercial process because it meets the criteria set out in that paragraph.
3. The provisions of this Agreement shall not require a Contracting Party to obtain or provide information that would disclose confidential communications between a client and a lawyer or other registered legal representative when such communications:
(a) the purpose of requesting or providing legal advice, or
(b) are intended to be used in ongoing or envisaged court proceedings.
4. The Requested Party may reject a request for information if the disclosure of the information is contrary to its public order.
5. An application for information may not be rejected on the grounds that the tax claim under the application is contested.
6. The Requested Party may reject a request for information if the information is requested by the requesting Party to apply or enforce a provision of the tax legislation of the requesting Party B or any obligation related to it B that is discriminatory against a national of the requested Party in respect of a national of the requesting Party in the same circumstances.
Article 8
Confidentiality
1. Any information received by a Contracting Party under this Agreement shall be held in confidence and shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including the courts and administrative bodies) within the jurisdiction of that Contracting Party concerned by the establishment, collection, collection or enforcement of the taxes referred to in this Agreement, or by the prosecution or decisions relating to appeals relating to such taxes. These individuals or authorities may only use this information for these purposes. These may be reported at public court hearings or in court decisions. The information may not be disclosed to any other person, entity or authority or other foreign authority without the express written authorization of the competent authority of the requested Party.
2. When the exchange of information concerns an identified or identifiable natural person, the provisions of Chapter 6, in particular Article 199, of the Economic Partnership Agreement of 15 October 2008 between the Cariforum States, on the one hand, and the European Community and its member States, on the other hand, are applied accordingly.
Article 9
Fees
The allocation of costs for assistance shall be determined by agreement by the Contracting Parties.
Article 10
Application provisions
Contracting Parties shall take all necessary legislative measures to comply with and give effect to this Agreement.
Article 11
Other international agreements and arrangements
The possibilities of assistance provided by this Agreement shall not limit and shall not be limited by those arising from any international agreements or other arrangements in force between the Contracting Parties which relate to cooperation in tax matters.
Article 12
Friendly procedure
1. In the event of difficulties or doubts between the Contracting Parties regarding the application or interpretation of the Agreement, the competent authorities shall endeavour to resolve the matter by mutual agreement.
2. In addition to the agreements referred to in paragraph 1
erthe competent authorities of the Contracting Parties may agree on the procedures to be followed in accordance with Articles 5 and 6.
3. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties may communicate with each other directly when seeking an agreement under this Article.
4. Contracting Parties may also agree on other forms of dispute resolution.
Article 13
Entry into force
1. This Agreement shall enter into force when each Party has notified the other of its internal procedures necessary for the coming into force. As soon as it comes into force, it will take effect:
(a) in criminal tax matters at that date; and
(b) for all other matters referred to in Article 1
er, on that date but only in respect of taxable periods beginning from that date or, in the absence of a taxable period, all taxation beginning from that date.
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1
er of this article, article 5, paragraph 5, (f) and the first sentence of paragraph 1
er of Article 7 shall only be applicable to both Parties from the date on which Belgium shall notify through diplomatic channels in Saint Lucia that Belgium has implemented legislation providing for the exchange of bank information for the purposes of its own tax legislation.
Article 14
Denunciation
1. Each Contracting Party may denounce the Agreement by notifying that denunciation by diplomatic means or by letter to the competent authority of the other Contracting Party.
2. This denunciation takes effect on the first day of the month following the expiration of six months from the date of receipt of the notification of denunciation by the other Contracting Party.
3. After the denunciation of the Agreement, Contracting Parties shall remain bound by the provisions of Article 8 for any information obtained under the Agreement.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, to this duly authorized, have signed the Agreement.
DONE in Brussels, December 7, 2009.
