-The Council heard a comprehensive report on the current state of play of negotiations on the taxation of savings income between the Commission and third countries to get them to adopt ‘equivalent’ measures to those implemented in the EU.
Commissioner Bolkestein reported that while talks with most third countries have started, negotiations have not yet formally begun with Switzerland. Switzerland is linking the tax issue to the opening of talks with the EU on a number of unrelated subjects, such as participation in the Schengen/Dublin acquis, liberalisation of trade in services and participation in audiovisual programmes, on which negotiating mandates should be agreed shortly by the Council.
Bolkestein noted that ‘equivilant’ does not mean ‘equal’. Negotiations with the US government are underway. A high level meeting will be held on 15 May. Bolkestein will visit the US end of May.
As regards dependant and associated territories, the United Kingdom informed the Council of the measures it had taken to secure agreement on the exchange of information. For its part, the Netherlands reported on the successful outcome of its discussions with the Dutch Antilles and Aruba.
© Council of the European Union
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