At its meeting on 6 June 2017, the Council of States 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) in the version approved by the National Council, thereby resolving the differences between the two chambers of parliament.
In accordance 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 reductions and profit transfers by multinational companies and to implement the results of the OECD/G20 BEPS project.
The Federal Council bill comprises the following two decrees:
- Federal Decree approving the Multilateral Agreement between the competent authorities on the exchange of country-specific reports (ALBA Agreement)
- Federal law on the international automatic exchange of country-specific reports by multinational corporations (ALBA Act; see dispatch of 23 November 2016).
The Council of States approved the Federal Council's proposal at its meeting on 16 March 2017 with certain adjustments (see our contribution of 22 March 2017)
On May 31, 2017, the National Council had discussed the bill and accepted it with certain deviations from the decision of the Council of States (see our contribution of May 31, 2017).
At its meeting on 6 June 2017, the Council of States discussed the proposal again and approved all points of the National Council's proposal. The remaining differences have thus been resolved and the bill is ready for the final vote.
The minutes of the meeting of the Council of States on 7 June 2017 are available here.
