Brazil now has 25 bilateral tax treaties that provide for the exchange of information in tax matters, while Indonesia has in place 53 agreements which meet the OECD’s standard.

A full description of the two countries’ legal and regulatory frameworks will be included in the Global Forum’s 2010 annual assessment, which is to be published later this year. As members of the Forum, both Brazil and Indonesia will undergo a peer review of its exchange of information laws and practices; this will occur for the former next year, and in 2013 for the latter.

The Global Forum launched its initial round of peer reviews in March, with the first tranche of 15 jurisdictions being : Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Botswana, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Denmark, Germany, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Jersey, Mauritius, Monaco, Norway, Panama, Qatar, Trinidad & Tobago. The Forum - which includes 91 countries and territories, including both OECD and non-OECD members - will be carrying out reviews in two phases, firstly assessing a jurisdiction’s legislative and regulatory framework and then examining how effectively this is implemented in practice.

Some 500 bilateral tax information exchange agreements have been signed worldwide since April 2009 as jurisdictions rushed to secure their place on the OECD’s “white list” of jurisdictions that meet the international standard. While some jurisdictions have been slow to seal the requisite 12 tax information exchange agreements necessary for a place on the white list – due in some cases to domestic legislation having to be amended – even the most seemingly recalcitrant centres have been making moves to demonstrate their commitment to the international standard on information exchange.