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Official Journal |
EN L series |
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2025/2428 |
5.12.2025 |
Amending Protocol to the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of San Marino on the Automatic Exchange of financial account information to improve international tax compliance
THE EUROPEAN UNION
and
THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO, hereinafter referred to as ‘San Marino’,
both hereinafter referred to, individually, as ‘Contracting Party’ and, jointly, as ‘Contracting Parties’,
WHEREAS the Contracting Parties are committed to improving their relationship and enhancing cooperation between them, as shown by the conclusion of negotiations on an association agreement in December 2023, providing for the right for San Marino to join the European Union internal market, including its four fundamental freedoms, and for cooperation in other areas,
WHEREAS the Contracting Parties have a longstanding and close relationship with respect to mutual assistance in tax matters, which consisted, initially, in the application of measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC (1), and which was later developed into the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of San Marino on the automatic exchange of financial account information to improve international tax compliance (2) (‘the Agreement’), as amended by the Amending Protocol to the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of San Marino 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 (3) based upon the reciprocal automatic exchange of information by means of implementing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (‘the Global Standard’),
WHEREAS, following the OECD's first comprehensive review of the Global Standard, amendments to the Global Standard were approved by the OECD's Committee on Fiscal Affairs in August 2022 and were adopted by the OECD Council on 8 June 2023 by means of its revised Recommendation on the International Standards for Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters (‘the update to the Global Standard’),
WHEREAS the OECD comprehensive review identified the increasing complexity of financial instruments and the emergence and use of new types of digital assets and acknowledged the necessity of adapting the Global Standard to ensure comprehensive and effective tax compliance,
WHEREAS the update to the Global Standard expanded the scope of reporting to include new digital financial products, such as Specified Electronic Money Products and Central Bank Digital Currencies, which offer credible alternatives to traditional Financial Accounts, which are already subject to reporting under the Global Standard,
WHEREAS the new OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (‘CARF’), which was introduced in parallel to the update to the Global Standard, serves as a complementary mechanism at the global level and is specifically designed to address the rapid development and growth of the Crypto-Asset market,
WHEREAS it was considered imperative to ensure an efficient interaction between those two frameworks, in particular to limit instances of duplicative reporting, by: (i) excluding Specified Electronic Money Products and Central Bank Digital Currencies from the scope of the CARF, given their coverage under the updated Global Standard; (ii) considering Crypto-Assets within the scope of the updated Global Standard to be Financial Assets for the purpose of reporting Custodial Accounts, Equity or Debt Interests in Investment Entities (except in cases of provision of services effectuating exchange transactions for or on behalf of customers, which are covered under the CARF), indirect investments in Crypto-Assets through other traditional financial products or traditional financial products issued in crypto form; and (iii) providing for an optional provision for Reporting Financial Institutions to switch off gross proceeds reporting for assets that are classified as Crypto-Assets under both frameworks, when such information is reported under the CARF, while continuing to report under the Global Standard all other information, such as account balance,
WHEREAS the CARF has been implemented within the European Union by way of Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (4), which amended Council Directive 2011/16/EU (5) with those provisions applying from 1 January 2026 and San Marino is committed to implementing the CARF in its domestic legislation and applying those provisions from the same date,
WHEREAS, with a view to limiting instances of duplicative reporting, the Contracting Parties should apply the delineation between the Agreement, the CARF and Directive (EU) 2023/2226 in a manner consistent with the delineation between the updated Global Standard and the CARF,
WHEREAS, with the aim of improving the reliability and use of the exchanged information, the update to the Global Standard introduces more detailed reporting requirements and strengthened due diligence procedures,
WHEREAS the update to the Global Standard adds a new ‘Excluded Account’ category for Capital Contribution Accounts and a de minimis threshold for reporting of Depository Accounts holding Specified Electronic Money Products,
WHEREAS Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) lays down specific data protection rules in the European Union which also apply to the exchanges of information covered by the Agreement,
WHEREAS Law No. 171 (7) of 21 December 2018 regulates the protection of personal data in San Marino,
WHEREAS, on the date of signing of this Amending Protocol, the European Commission has, so far, not adopted a decision pursuant to Article 45(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 finding that San Marino is a country that ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data,
WHEREAS both Contracting Parties commit to implementing and observing the specific data protection safeguards as included in the Agreement, including Annex III,
WHEREAS Reporting Financial Institutions, sending Competent Authorities and receiving Competent Authorities, as data controllers, should retain information processed in accordance with the Agreement for no longer than necessary to achieve the purposes thereof and whereas, given the differences in Member States' and San Marino's legislation, the maximum retention period should be set by reference to the statute of limitations provided by each data controller's domestic tax legislation,
WHEREAS the processing of information under the Agreement is necessary for and proportionate to the purpose of enabling Member States' and San Marino's tax administrations to correctly and unequivocally identify the taxpayers concerned, to administer and enforce their tax laws in cross-border situations, to assess the likelihood of tax evasion being perpetrated and to avoid unnecessary further investigations,
HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
The Agreement is amended as follows:
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(1) |
the introductory wording between the title and Article 1 is replaced by the following: ‘THE EUROPEAN UNION and THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO, hereinafter referred to as “San Marino”, both hereinafter referred to, individually, as “Contracting Party” and, jointly, as “Contracting Parties”, HAVE AGREED TO CONCLUDE THE FOLLOWING AGREEMENT:’ ; |
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(2) |
in Article 1(1), the following subparagraph is added:
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(3) |
Article 2 is amended as follows:
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(4) |
Article 3 is amended as follows:
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(5) |
Article 6 is amended as follows:
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(6) |
in Article 7, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: ‘2. If the consultation relates to significant non-compliance with the provisions of this Agreement, and the procedure described in paragraph 1 does not provide for an adequate settlement, the Competent Authority of a Member State or San Marino may suspend the exchange of information under this Agreement towards, respectively, San Marino or a specific Member State, by giving notice in writing to the other Competent Authority concerned. Such suspension will have immediate effect. For the purposes of this paragraph, significant non-compliance includes, but is not limited to, non-compliance with the confidentiality and data safeguard provisions of this Agreement, including Annex III, of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and of Law No. 171 of 21 December 2018, as applicable, a failure by the Competent Authority of a Member State or San Marino to provide timely or adequate information as required under this Agreement or defining the status of Entities or accounts as Non-Reporting Financial Institutions and Excluded Accounts in a manner that frustrates the purposes of this Agreement.’ |
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(7) |
Article 9 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 9 Termination Either Contracting Party may terminate this Agreement by giving notice of termination in writing to the other Contracting Party. Such termination will become effective on the first day of the month following the expiration of a period of 12 months after the date of the notice of termination. In the event of termination, all information previously received under this Agreement will remain confidential and subject, (i) for Member States, to the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and (ii) for San Marino, to the provisions of Law No. 171 of 21 December 2018 and, in both cases, to the specific data protection safeguards set out in this Agreement, including those contained in Annex III.’ |
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(8) |
Annex I is amended as follows:
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(9) |
Annex III is amended as follows:
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(10) |
in Annex IV, subparagraph (ac) is deleted. |
Article 2
Entry into force
This Amending Protocol requires ratification or approval by the Contracting Parties in accordance with their own procedures. The Contracting Parties shall notify each other of the completion of these procedures. The Amending Protocol shall enter into force on the first day of January following the last notification.
Article 3
Languages
This Amending Protocol shall be drawn up in duplicate in the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish languages, each text being equally authentic.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have hereunto set their hands.
(1) Council Directive 2003/48/EC of 3 June 2003 on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments (OJ L 157, 26.6.2003, p. 38, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2003/48/oj).
(2) OJ L 381, 28.12.2004, p. 33, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_internation/2004/903/oj.
(3) OJ L 346, 31.12.2015, p. 3, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/prot/2015/2469/oj.
(4) Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 of 17 October 2023 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (OJ L, 2023/2226, 24.10.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2023/2226/oj).
(5) Council Directive 2011/16/EU of 15 February 2011 on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation and repealing Directive 77/799/EEC (OJ L 64, 11.3.2011, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2011/16/oj).
(6) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj).
(7) Bollettino Ufficiale della Repubblica di San Marino [https://www.bollettinoufficiale.sm/on-line/RicercaBU?acm_lang=it_IT&acm_session=D41C8C128609A28C2FB7110E5375A6D1.tomcat1lb&operation=getDocBU&id=1da1d6f8c775533f025aaa32a4094d865ec68fb9].
JOINT DECLARATIONS OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES
JOINT DECLARATION OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES ON THE AGREEMENT AND THE ANNEXES
The Contracting Parties agree, regarding the implementation of the Agreement and Annexes I and II thereto as amended by the Amending Protocol of 13 October 2025, that the Commentaries to the OECD Model Competent Authority Agreement and Common Reporting Standard, as well as the Commentaries to the 2023 Addendum to the OECD Model Competent Authority Agreement and to the 2023 update to the Common Reporting Standard, should be a source of illustration or interpretation and in order to ensure consistency in application.
JOINT DECLARATION OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES ON ARTICLE 5 OF THE AGREEMENT
The Contracting Parties agree that Article 5 of the Agreement is aligned to the latest OECD standard on transparency and exchange of information in tax matters enshrined in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention. Therefore, the Contracting Parties agree, regarding the implementation of Article 5, that the commentary to Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital in the version current at the time of signature of the Amending Protocol should be a source of interpretation.
Where the OECD adopts new versions of the commentary to Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital in subsequent years, when acting as the requested jurisdiction, any Member State or the Republic of San Marino may apply those versions as a source of interpretation, replacing the previous ones. That Member State shall notify the Republic of San Marino and the Republic of San Marino shall notify the European Commission when they apply the previous sentence. The European Commission may coordinate the transmission of the notification from Member States to the Republic of San Marino and the European Commission shall transmit the notification from the Republic of San Marino to all Member States. The application shall have an effect as of the date of the notification.
JOINT DECLARATION OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES ON THE RELATIONS BETWEEN SAN MARINO AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
The European Union recognises the active role played by the Republic of San Marino in the international process for transparency and tax cooperation among countries. San Marino is constantly working towards full convergence with international and European Union standards on anti-money laundering, tax and finance, as has been recognised by Moneyval, the OECD and the International Monetary Fund.
In particular, the alignment process with the relevant provisions of the European Union on banking matters, anti-money laundering, payment systems, statistics, and euro banknotes and coins – provisions which are also important with regard to the above-mentioned transparency standards – is regulated by the Monetary Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of San Marino (the ‘Monetary Agreement’), signed in 2012. In the Monetary Agreement, San Marino committed to transposing the relevant set of rules of the European Union into its own national legal system.
This process of convergence is meant to be assisted by the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of San Marino on the automatic exchange of financial account information to improve international tax compliance (the ‘Agreement’), in respect of which San Marino highlighted the need to ensure financial, technical and operational sustainability.
The European Union acknowledges San Marino's willingness to achieve, taking account of the start of the exchange of information under the Agreement, the effective integration of its financial and banking system within the Union market, in compliance with the obligations deriving from the Monetary Agreement.
Integration-related issues will be further addressed in the context of the association agreement with the European Union, the negotiations for which were concluded on 12 December 2023.
JOINT DECLARATION OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES ON THE DEFINITION OF CENTRAL BANK
The Contracting Parties agree, with reference to the criteria to identify Non-Reporting Financial Institutions (Annex I, Section VIII, paragraph B), that the term ‘Central Bank’ (Annex I, Section VIII, subparagraph B(4)) is to be interpreted for San Marino to refer to the Central Bank of the Republic of San Marino (Banca Centrale della Repubblica di San Marino).
JOINT DECLARATION OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES ON THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE AMENDING PROTOCOL
The Contracting Parties declare that they expect that the constitutional requirements of San Marino and the requirements of European Union law concerning entering into international agreements will be fulfilled in time to enable the Amending Protocol to enter into force on the first day of January 2026. They will take all the measures in their power to achieve that goal.
ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_internation/2025/2428/oj
ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)