117 | II Série A - Número: 018S2 | 18 de Outubro de 2010

Article 5 Exchange of information upon request

1. The competent authority of the requested Party shall provide upon request by the requesting Party information for the purposes referred to in Article 1. Such information shall be provided without regard to whether the requested Party needs such information for its own tax purposes or the conduct being investigated would constitute a crime under the laws of the requested Party if it had occurred in the territory of the requested Party. The competent authority of the requesting Party shall only make a request for information pursuant to this Article when it is unable to obtain the requested information by other means in its own territory, except where recourse to such means would give rise to disproportionate difficulty.
2. If the information in the possession of the competent authority of the requested Party is not sufficient to enable it to comply with the request for information, that Party shall use at its own discretion all applicable information gathering measures necessary to provide the requesting Party with the information requested, notwithstanding that the requested Party may not, at that time, need such information for its own tax purposes.
3. If specifically requested by the competent authority of the requesting Party, the competent authority of the requested Party shall provide information under this Article, to the extent allowable under its laws, in the form of depositions of witnesses and authenticated copies of original records.
4. Each Party shall ensure that its competent authorities, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement have the authority to obtain and provide upon request:

a) Information held by banks, other financial institutions, and any person, including nominees and trustees, acting in an agency or fiduciary capacity, b) Information regarding the legal and beneficial ownership of companies, partnerships and other persons and, within the constraints of Article 2, any other persons in an ownership chain, including i) In the case of collective investment funds and schemes, information on shares, units and other interests; ii) In the case of trusts, information on settlors, trustees protectors and beneficiaries; and iii) In the case of foundations, information on founders, members of the foundation council and beneficiaries, provided that this Agreement does not create an obligation for a Party to obtain or provide ownership information with respect to publicly traded companies or public collective investment funds or schemes unless such information can be obtained without giving rise to disproportionate difficulties.

5. Any request for information shall be formulated with the greatest detail possible and shall specify in writing:

a) The identity of the person under examination or investigation, b) The period for which the information is requested, c) The nature of the information sought and the form in which the requesting Party would prefer to receive it, d) The tax purpose for which the information is sought, e) The reasons for believing that the information requested is foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the tax law of the requesting Party, with respect to the person identified in subparagraph a) of this paragraph, f) Grounds for believing that the information requested is held in the requested Party or is in the possession of or in the control of or obtainable by a person within the jurisdiction of the requested Party, g) To the extent known, the name and address of any person believed to be in possession of or in the control of or able to obtain the requested information, h) A statement that the request conforms with the laws and administrative practice of the requesting Party and that the information would be obtainable by the requesting Party under its laws or in the normal course of administrative practice in response to a valid request made in similar circumstances from the requested Party under this Agreement,