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The Government approved expansion of Bulgaria’s participation in OECD’s working bodies and accession to new instruments of the Organisation.

20 April 2016 Events and Discussions

On April 20th, 2016, the Council of Ministers approved the expansion of Bulgaria’s participation in working bodies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with the status of a “Guest” and accession to new instruments of the organization.

The list of working bodies includes the committees on financial markets, tax policy, industry, innovation and entrepreneurship, tourism, agriculture, fisheries, consumer protection, environmental policy, as well as working groups of the Economic Policy Committee, the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, The Trade Committee, The Development Assistance Committee, etc. Bulgaria will express to the OECD its interest in joining two of its instruments, namely  the Declaration on Green Growth and the OECD Council Recommendation on Principles for Internet Policy Making. They are an expression of the political commitment of our country to adhere to the principles of the respective policy developed by the OECD.

For the past two years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the national coordinator of the cooperation with the OECD, has worked to open up OECD’s working bodies and to improve the coordination with the European institutions in preparation for the membership. Bulgaria’s participation in the working bodies and joining of the instruments of the organization provides an opportunity for exchange of good practices in various areas of socio-economic development and adoption of the standards of the organisation. They are mandatory conditions in the process of preparation for Bulgaria’s membership in the OECD.

At the end of 2015, Bulgaria joined other important instruments of the OECD in the field of the tax policy, namely the international initiatives to combat the tax evasion and tax avoidance through automatic exchange of information for tax purposes – the Convention on Mutual Administrative Cooperation on Tax Matters, the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information on tax purposes. Bulgaria is among the countries committed to make the necessary changes in their national legislation and to exchange information for tax purposes from 2017. In addition, In March this year, the government approved the accession of our country to the inclusive framework of the OECD for the introduction of measured under the project “Shrinkage of tax base and transfer of profits” (BEPS).

With these decisions of the government, our country will provide a clear signal that it stands behind the international efforts against tax evasion and tax avoidance. In addition, timely access to information on current and future initiatives in the prevention and fight against tax avoidance and tax evasion will help fulfill the commitments in this area under the membership of our country in the EU, as well as for the successful Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the EU in 2018. As a result of the implementation of the above-mentioned OECD standards, a positive effect on the budget revenues of our country is expected.

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