Article 19 - Information Exchange

1. Tax Administrations in Member States shall exchange information relevant to the implementation of the provisions of this Agreement, or to the administration or implementation of Local Laws related to Excise Tax.

2. Subject to the provisions of international agreements to which a Member State is party, information obtained by the Tax Administration shall be treated as confidential information in the same manner as information obtained under the Local Laws of that Administration. Such information shall be disclosed only to persons or entities (including courts and administrative bodies) concerned with the recording, collection or enforcing of Excise Tax, or with filing lawsuits pertaining thereto or determining the related appeal or supervision of the foregoing. It is not permissible for such persons or entities to use the information for any purposes other than the above-mentioned purposes, and they may disclose such information in judicial proceedings in the public courts or in judicial rulings. Regardless of the foregoing, information obtained by the Tax Administration may be used for other purposes when the laws of both states permit their use for such other purposes, and the Tax Administration in the State that provides the information permits such use.

3. The provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) of this article may not, under any circumstances, be interpreted in a manner that results in any Member State being obliged to:
a) Implement administrative measures contrary to the regulations and administrative practices in that State or in another Member State.
b) Provide information, which is not obtainable under normal administrative regulations or directives in that State or in another Member State.
c) Provide information that would lead to the disclosure of any secret relating to trade, business or industry, or commercial or professional secrets, or trade processes or information the disclosure of which would violate public policy (public order).

4. If a Member State requests information under this Article, the other Member State shall employ its own procedures for collecting the required information, notwithstanding that the other State may not need this information for its own taxation purposes. The obligation set forth in the preceding sentence shall be subject to the restrictions contained in paragraph (3), but in no case may these restrictions be interpreted as permitting a Member State to decline to provide information on the sole ground that it has no local interest in it.

5. Under no circumstances shall the provisions of paragraph (3) be interpreted as allowing a Contracting State to decline to provide information on the sole ground that the information in question is held by a bank or any other financial institution or an authorized person, or a person acting as a proxy or in a trustee capacity or on the grounds that the information is linked to interests pertaining to ownership by any person.