Tax disputes are finished: Switzerland and France settled a row over stolen bank records, which blocked the treaty, aimed at helping Paris to catch tax fraud
Switzerland said in December it would freeze the tax treaty talks after French authorities obtained tax-sensitive client information from a former HSBC employee, which it said helped identify 3,000 suspected French tax evaders.
“We have found an agreement,”
Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz said after talks with French Budget Minister Eric Woerth on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on Wednesday.
“France has agreed not to use stolen data when asking for [tax] information,”
he said during a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, an outspoken critic of tax havens, to address the Davos conference.
A French official said Paris would continue to use the HSBC data in prosecuting tax offenders, but confirmed it would not use the records to seek information on account holders from Switzerland under the agreement.
Both sides said there were still some details to be sorted out with regards to a letter accompanying accord, but Merz said it should be sorted out within days.
Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said she had asked France to hand the data back because it was obtained illegally, but Paris defended its decision, saying it had not broken any French laws. (c) swissinfo
France backs fashion bank for crisis-hit designers: France said it would help struggling designers and artisans by creating a fashion bank and handing out state guarantees for loans, Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said. The fashion industry, which the government sees as part of France’s cultural heritage, has been hit hard by the global spending slump with high-profile victims including Christian Lacroix and Cacharel
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has offered a broad riposte to unrestrained free-market capitalism at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos. Sarkozy, giving the keynote address, told the business and political movers and shakers gathered in the Swiss resort to prepare for tighter regulations including new accounting rules