Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the date of application of the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC of 3 June 2003 on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments
Date: 2004-10-26
Institutions: European Community, Switzerland
Subjects: Switzerland, agreement (EU), interest, savings, tax on income, tax system

29.12.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 385/51

AGREEMENT

in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the Swiss Confe-
deration on the date of application of the Agreement between the European Community and the
Swiss Confederation providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive
2003/48/EC of 3 June 2003 on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments

A. Letter from the European Community

Sir,

I have the honour to refer to the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confe-
deration providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation
of savings income in the form of interest payments. The Agreement, which will be ratified or approved by
the Contracting Parties in accordance with their own procedures, will be applied from a date determined in
accordance with the procedure set out in Article 18(2) of the Agreement.

Article 18(2) provides that the Contracting Parties shall decide by common accord at least six months
before the date referred to in Article 17(2) of the Agreement (1 January 2005) whether the condition set out
in article 18(1) of the Agreement will be met and if they do not decide that the condition will be met shall
adopt, by common accord, a new date for application of the Agreement.

Article 18(1) provides that the application of the Agreement will be conditional on the adoption and
implementation by the dependent or associated territories of the Member States mentioned in the report
of the Council (Economic and Financial Questions) to the European Council of Santa Maria da Feira of 19
and 20 June 2000, as well as by the United States of America, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San
Marino respectively of measures which conform with or are equivalent to those contained in the Directive
or the Agreement, with the exception of Article 15 of the Agreement, and providing for the same dates of
implementation.

On the basis of the negotiations that have taken place between the European Community and the Swiss
Confederation I understand that it will in accordance with Article 17(2) of the Agreement only be possible
for the Swiss Confederation to apply the Agreement from 1 July 2005 and this on the understanding that
Swiss constitutional requirements will be met by that date.

I request your confirmation that the date of 1 July 2005 is acceptable to you as the new date for application
of the Agreement as provided for in Article 18(2) of the Agreement and that the Swiss Government will do
its utmost to ensure that this date will be respected. I also request you to confirm that on the basis of the
information provided in the negotiations held on 21 June 2004, and without prejudice to the next
paragraph the Swiss Confederation accepts that the conditions of Article 18(1) will be met.

I accept that Switzerland is obliged to apply the provisions of the Agreement as from 1 July 2005 only if all
EU Member States and each of the countries and territories mentioned in Article 18(1) of the Agreement
apply the savings tax measures mentioned therein from that same date. The same condition shall also apply
for each EU Member State.

Please accept, Sir, the assurance of our highest consideration,

L 385/52

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.12.2004

Hecho en Luxemburgo, el

V Lucemburku dne

Udfærdiget i Luxembourg, den

Geschehen zu Luxemburg am

Luxembourg,
Έγινε στις Λουξεμβούργο, στις
Done at Luxembourg,

Fait à Luxembourg, le

Fatto a Lussembourgo, addì
Luksemburgā,
Priimta Liuksemburge,

Kelt Luxembourgban,
Magħmul fil-Lussemburgu,
Gedaan te Luxemburg,

Sporzÿdzono w Luksemburgu, dnia

Feito em Luxemburgo,

V Luxemburgu

V Luxembourgu,

Tehty Luxemburgissa

Utfärdat i Luxemburg den

Por la Comunidad Europea
Za Evropské společenství
For Det Europæiske Fællesskab

Für die Europäische Gemeinschaft

Euroopa Ühenduse nimel
Για την Ευρωπαϊκή Κοινότητα

For the European Community

Pour la Communauté européenne

Per la Comunità europea
Eiropas Kopienas vārdā
Europos bendrijos vardu
az Európai Közösség részéről
Għall-Komunità Ewropea
Voor de Europese Gemeenschap

W imieniu Wspólnoty Europejskiej

Pela Comunidade Europeia
Za Európske spoločenstvo
za Evropsko skupnost

Euroopan yhteisön puolesta

På Europeiska gemenskapens vägnar

29.12.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 385/53

B. Letter from the Swiss Confederation

Sir,

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of today's date, which reads as follows:

‘Sir,

I have the honour to refer to the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confe-
deration providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC on
taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments. The Agreement, which will be ratified or
approved by the Contracting Parties in accordance with their own procedures, will be applied from a
date determined in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 18(2) of the Agreement.

Article 18(2) provides that the Contracting Parties shall decide by common accord at least six months
before the date referred to in Article 17(2) of the Agreement (1 January 2005) whether the condition set
out in article 18(1) of the Agreement will be met and if they do not decide that the condition will be
met shall adopt, by common accord, a new date for application of the Agreement.

Article 18(1) provides that the application of the Agreement will be conditional on the adoption and
implementation by the dependent or associated territories of the Member States mentioned in the report
of the Council (Economic and Financial Questions) to the European Council of Santa Maria da Feira of
19 and 20 June 2000, as well as by the United States of America, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and
San Marino respectively of measures which conform with or are equivalent to those contained in the
Directive or the Agreement, with the exception of Article 15 of the Agreement, and providing for the
same dates of implementation.

On the basis of the negotiations that have taken place between the European Community and the Swiss
Confederation I understand that it will
in accordance with Article 17(2) of the Agreement only be
possible for the Swiss Confederation to apply the Agreement from 1 July 2005 and this on the under-
standing that Swiss constitutional requirements will be met by that date.

I request your confirmation that the date of 1 July 2005 is acceptable to you as the new date for
application of the Agreement as provided for in Article 18(2) of the Agreement and that the Swiss
Government will do its utmost to ensure that this date will be respected. I also request you to confirm
that on the basis of the information provided in the negotiations held on 21 June 2004, and without
prejudice to the next paragraph the Swiss Confederation accepts that the conditions of Article 18(1) will
be met.

I accept that Switzerland is obliged to apply the provisions of the Agreement as from 1 July 2005 only if
all EU Member States and each of the countries and territories mentioned in Article 18(1) of the
Agreement apply the savings tax measures mentioned therein from that same date. The same
condition shall also apply for each EU Member State.

Please accept, Sir, the assurance of our highest consideration,’.

On the basis of the negotiations that have taken place between the European Community and the Swiss
Confederation I am able to confirm the agreement of the Swiss Confederation to a new date of application
of the aforementioned Agreement of 1 July 2005 on the condition that Swiss constitutional requirements
will be met by that date. I confirm that the Swiss Government will do its utmost to ensure that this date
will be respected.

I confirm that subject to technical verification by my services of the information provided in the nego-
tiations held on 21 June 2004, which will be confirmed by me in advance of the signing of the Agreement
on the basis of finalised versions of the appropriate agreements, the Swiss Confederation accepts that the
conditions of Article 18(1) will be met without prejudice to the point made in the following paragraph.

I agree that Switzerland is obliged to apply the provisions of the Agreement as from 1 July 2005 only if all
EU Member States and each of the countries and territories mentioned in Article 18(1) of the Agreement
apply the savings tax measures mentioned therein from that same date. I accept that the same condition
shall also apply for each EU Member State.

Please accept, Sir, the assurance of our highest consideration,

L 385/54

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.12.2004

Geschehen zu Luxemburg am

Fait à Luxembourg, le

Fatto a Lussembourgo, addì

Hecho en Luxemburgo, el

V Lucemburku dne

Udfærdiget i Luxembourg, den

Luxembourg,
Έγινε στις Λουξεμβούργο, στις
Done at Luxembourg,
Luksemburgā,
Priimta Liuksemburge,

Kelt Luxembourgban,
Magħmul fil-Lussemburgu,
Gedaan te Luxemburg,

Sporzÿdzono w Luksemburgu, dnia

Feito em Luxemburgo,

V Luxemburgu

V Luxembourgu,

Tehty Luxemburgissa

Utfärdat i Luxemburg den

Für die Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft

Pour la Confédération suisse

Per la Confederazione svizzera