Both the Council of States and the National Council approved on 5-6 December 2017 the introduction of automatic information exchange (AIA) on financial accounts with 41 partner states (from 2018/2019) (see our contribution of 9 December 2017). As the National Council has waived its right to refer the Federal Decree on the AIA with New Zealand back to the Federal Council, the Council of States had to make another formal decision on this agreement on 12 December 2017.
According to the Federal Council's business (17,040) concerning the introduction of automatic information exchange on financial accounts with 41 partner states from 2018/2019, Switzerland's network of AIA partners is to be expanded to include 41 signatory states and territories. With regard to these states and territories, account information is to be collected from 2018 onwards and a mutual exchange of this data is to take place for the first time in 2019.
The National Council initially voiced concerns about the agreement with New Zealand and demanded that it be referred back to the Federal Council. However, in its session of 6 December 2017, the National Council abandoned its opposition and approved the AIA also with regard to New Zealand.
The Council of States then had to make a formal decision on the agreement with New Zealand once again and adopted the draft by 38 votes to 5 with 0 abstentions.
The verbatim transcripts are available here.
