Costa Rica has ratified an international convention to boost compliance efforts in cross-border tax affairs, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said today.

The jurisdiction ratified what is called the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which has been forged by the OECD and the Council of Europe, and has been open to all countries since June 1, 2011.

The Convention is a global instrument for international tax cooperation and exchange of information. It provides a multilateral basis for a wide variety of administrative assistance, including information exchange on request, automatic exchange, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in the collection of tax debts.

“Costa Rica continues to make good progress in transparency and exchange of information,” the OECD's secretary general, Angel Gurría, said in a statement.  

The Convention will enter into force for Costa Rica on August 1.

Current signatories to the amended Convention are: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, UK and US.