At its meeting on 31 May 2017, the National Council approved the Federal Decree on the approval of the Multilateral Agreement between the competent authorities on the exchange of country-specific reports (ALBA Agreement) and the associated Implementation Act (ALBA Act), with certain differences to the Council of States (First Council).
In line with the Federal Council's business (16.078), the approval of the Multilateral Agreement of the competent authorities on the exchange of country-specific reports and the corresponding implementation law are intended to prevent profit reduction and relocation by multinational companies and to implement the results of the OECD/G20 BEPS project. The Council of States approved the Federal Council's proposal at its meeting on 16 March 2017 with certain adjustments (for details see our contribution of 22 March 2017)
On 31 May 2017, the National Council discussed the proposal (or the decision of the Council of States) and passed the following resolution:
- The Federal Decree on the approval of the Multilateral Agreement of the competent authorities on the exchange of country-specific reports (ALBA Agreement) was adopted at the request of the Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation of the National Council (WAK-N) with certain deviations from the resolution of the Council of States by 115 votes to 65 with 2 abstentions.
- The Federal Act on the International Automatic Exchange of Country-Specific Reports by Multinational Corporations (ALBA Act; see dispatch of 23 November 2016) was adopted in the overall vote with 180 votes in favour and 0 abstentions (unanimity), with various deviations from the resolution of the Council of States and the motion of the Federal Council in the individual votes.
The existing differences will be discussed by the Council of States in a next step.
The minutes and detailed voting results of the National Council meeting of 31 May 2017 are available here: Morning session (third session) / afternoon session (fourth session; continued).
