In July 2013, Hong Kong has put in place legislative amendments to align Hong Kong's exchange of information arrangements with the prevailing international standard. This is a vital step to enable Hong Kong to preserve its international reputation and achieve the "Largely Compliant" rating under the peer review exercise carried out by the OECD Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. To keep abreast with the development in the international arena, Inland Revenue Department of HKSAR has invited Mr. Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD, to share with us the international landscape on tax transparency and other tax jurisdictions?? experience.

You may be aware that in May 2014 the Declaration on Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters was endorsed during the OECD's annual Ministerial Council meeting in Paris by all 34 member countries, along with 13 other jurisdictions. Mr. Saint-Amans talked about the international trend on tax transparency, in particular the hot topics concerning automatic exchange of information and the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Commissioner of Inland Revenue shared with the audience the progress of Hong Kong in treaty negotiation.