The OECD has concluded its ministerial meeting May 6-7 in Paris.
Ministers from the 34 OECD member countries discussed the importance of rebuilding public trust, notably by enhancing the fairness of their tax systems. To this end, they adopted a [Declaration on Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters](http://www.oecd.org/mcm/MCM-2014-Declaration-Tax.pdf). Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Africa also signed the Declaration.
The Declaration commits countries to implement a new [single global standard on automatic exchange of information](http://www.oecd.org/ctp/exchange-of-tax-information/automatic-exchange-of-financial-account-information.htm). The standard, which was developed at the OECD and endorsed by G20 finance ministers last February, obliges countries and jurisdictions to obtain all financial information from their financial institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions on an annual basis.
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said: *“The commitment by so many countries to implement the new global standard, and to do so quickly, is another major step towards ensuring that tax cheats have nowhere left to hide.”*
Click [here](http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/countries-commit-to-automatic-exchange-of-information-in-tax-matters.htm) for further information on the OECD’s work on automatic exchange of information in tax matters.