Tax Treaty Case Law around the Globe 2014

S. 323Chapter 32 Luxembourg: The Standard of "Foreseeable Relevance"

Werner C. Haslehner

32.1. Introduction

The law on the exchange of information in tax matters has seen continuous change in recent years, speeded up and corroborated by a significant increase in requests for such exchange of information. This change has been most momentous since the latest revision of the relevant article 26 of the OECD Model in 2005 and the increased pressure put on countries by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information (Global Forum) in 2009, which prompted Luxembourg, as most other OECD countries and financial centres, to fully commit to the so-called "global standard" of tax information exchange. This commitment notwithstanding, however, the practice of information exchange continues to be bound primarily by the existing legal framework of bilateral treaties, which do not yet all reflect that standard. As a consequence, the extent to which the OECD Model and its Commentary can be utilized in the interpretation of the existing treaties turns out to be a key question for the practical application of the global standard. For Luxembourg, this issue has been particularly pressing since las...