中国与开曼群岛税收协定(英文原版)

1、AGREEMENTBETWEENTHE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE''S REPUBLIC OF CHINAANDTHE GOVERNMENT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDSFORTHE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION RELATING TO TAXESThe Government of the People 'Rsepublic of China and the Government of the Cayman Islands ( “ thCeontracting Parties ”),Acknowledging th

2、at the Contracting Parties are competent to negotiate and conclude a tax information exchangeagreement,Desiring to provide a framework for cooperation and facilitate the exchange of information with respectto taxes,Have agreedas follows:ARTICLE 1SCOPE OF AGREEMENT1. The competent authorities of the

3、Contracting Parties shall provide assistance through exchange of information that is foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws of the Contracting Parties concerning taxes covered by this Agreement. Such information shall include information that is foreseeably r

4、elevant to the determination, assessment,verification and collection of such taxes, the recovery and enforcementof tax claims, and the investigation or prosecution of tax matters.2. Information shall be exchanged in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement and shall be treated asconfidential

5、 in the mannerprovided in Article 8.ARTICLE 2JURISDICTIONA requested Party is not obliged to provide information which is neither held by its authorities nor in the possession or control of persons who are within its territorial jurisdiction.ARTICLE 3TAXES COVERED1The existing taxesto which this Agr

6、eement shall apply are in particular:a) in the People 'Rsepublic of China:all taxesexceptcustoms tariffs;(hereinafterreferred to as “ Chinesteax ”)b) in the Cayman Islands: taxesof every kind and description. (hereinafterreferred to as “ CaymaInslands tax ”)2. This Agreement shall also apply to

7、any identical or substantially similar taxesthat areimposed after the dateof signatureof the Agreement in addition to, or in place of, anyof the existing taxeslisted in paragraph1.3. The taxescoveredby this Agreement may be expandedor modified by mutualagreementof the Contracting Parties in the form

8、 agreedupon by both Contracting Parties.4. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall notify each other ofany substantial changes to the taxation and related information gathering measures covered by this Agreement.ARTICLE 4DEFINITIONS1. For the purposesof this Agreement, unlessthe c

9、ontext otherwise requires:a) the term “thePeople 'Rsepublic of China ”w,hen usedin a geographicalsense, meansall theterritory of thePeople 'Rsepublic of China, including its territorial sea, in which the Chineselaws relating to taxation apply, and any area beyond its territorial sea, within

10、which the People 'Rsepublic of China has sovereign rights of exploration for and exploitation of resourcesof the seabedand its subsoil and superjacentwater resourcesin accordancewith international law and its domestic law;b) the term “ theCayman Islands m”eans the territory of the Cayman Islands

11、 and includes the territorial sea, areaswithin the maritime boundariesof the Cayman Islands and any area within which in accordance with international law the rights of the Cayman Islands with respect to the seabedand sub-soil and their natural resourcesmay be exercised;c) the term “ person i”nclude

12、s an individual, a company and any other body of persons;d) the term “company”meansany body corporate or any entity that is treatedasa body corporatefor tax purposes;e) the term “ publiclytraded company”means any company whose principal class of sharesis listed on a recognisedstock exchangeprovided

13、its listed sharescan be readily purchasedor sold by the public. Sharescan be purchasedor sold “by the public ”if the purchase or sale of shares is not implicitly or explicitly restricted to a limited group of investors; and for this purpose, the term “ principalclass of shares ”meansthe class or cla

14、ssesof shares representing a majority of thevoting power and value of the company.For the purposesof this paragraphthe term “ recognisesdtock exchange ”means:(i) in the People 'Rsepublic of China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange or the ShenzhenStock Exchange;(ii) in the Cayman Islands, the Cayman Is

15、lands Stock Exchange;(iii) any other stock exchange which the competent authorities agree to recognize for the purposesof this Agreement;f) the term “collectiveinvestment fund or scheme”meansany pooled investment vehicle, irrespectiveof legal form. The term “publiccollective investment fund or schem

16、e”means any collective investment fund or scheme, in which the purchase, sale or redemption of shares or other interests is not implicitly or explicitly restrictedto a limited group of investors;g) the term “taxm”eansany tax to which this Agreementapplies;h) the term “ competenatuthority m”eans:(i)

17、in the caseof the People 'Rsepublic of China, the State Administration of Taxation or its authorized representative;and(ii) in the case of the Cayman Islands, the Tax Information Authority or a personor its authorized representative;i) the term “ information m”eans any fact, statement, document

18、or record in whatever form;j) the term “ informationgathering measures ”means laws and administrative or judicial proceduresthat enable a Contracting Party to obtain and provide the requestedinformation;k) the term “requestingParty ”means the Party to this Agreement submitting a requestfor or having

19、 received information from the requestedParty;l) the term “requestePdarty ”meansthe Party to this Agreement which is requested to provide or has provided information in responseto a request.2. As regardsthe application of this Agreement at any time by a Contracting Party,any term not defined therein

20、 shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaningthat it hasat thattime under the law of thatParty for the purposesof the taxesto which this Agreement applies, any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that Party prevailing over a meaninggiven to the term underother laws of that Par

21、ty.ARTICLE 5EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION UPON REQUEST1. The competent authority of a requested Party shall provide upon request in writing information for the purposesreferred to in Article 1. Such information shall be exchangedwithout regard to whether the conduct being investigated would constitute a t

22、ax offence under the laws of the requested Party if it occurred in the territory of the requestedParty. If the information received by the competent authority of the requested Party is not sufficient to enable it to comply with the request for information, it shall advise the competent authority of

23、the requesting Party of that fact and request such additional information as may be required to enable the effective processing of the request.2. If the information in the possessionof the competent authority of the requestedParty is not sufficient to enable it to comply with the request for the inf

24、ormation, the requested Party shall use all relevant information gathering measures to provide the requestingParty with the information requested,notwithstanding that the requestedParty may not needsuchinformation for its own tax purposes.3. If specifically requestedby the competent authority of the

25、 requesting Party, thecompetentauthority of the requestedParty shall provide information under this Article, to the extent allowable under its domestic laws, in the form of depositions of witnessesand authenticatedcopies of original records.4. Each Contracting Party shall ensurethat its competent au

26、thority, for the purposesof this Agreement,hasthe authority to obtain and provide upon request:a) information held by banks, other financial institutions, and any person, including nomineesand trustees,acting in an agencyor fiduciary capacity;b) information regarding the legal and beneficial ownersh

27、ip of companies, partnerships, trusts, foundations and other persons, including, within the constraints of Article 2, ownership information on all such persons in an ownership chain; in the case of trusts, information on settlors, trustees, and beneficiaries; and in the caseof foundations, informati

28、on on founders,members, beneficiaries and directors or other senior officers of the foundation.5. Notwithstanding the preceding paragraphs, this Agreement does not create an obligation on the Contracting Parties to obtain or provide ownership information with respect to publicly traded companies or

29、public collective investment funds or schemes, unless such information can be obtained without giving rise to disproportionate difficulties.6. The competent authority of the requesting Party shall provide the following information to the competentauthority of the requestedParty when making a request

30、for information under this Agreement in order to demonstrate the foreseeablerelevance of the information to the request:a) the identity of the personunder examination or investigation;b) the period for which the information is requested;c) the nature and type of the information requested,including a

31、 description of the information and/or specific evidence sought, and the form in which the requestingParty would prefer to receive the information;d) the tax purposesfor which the information is sought;e) grounds for believing that the information requestedis presentin the territory of the requested

32、Party or is in the possessionor control of a person subject to the jurisdiction of the requestedParty;f) to the extent known, the name and address of any person believed to be in possessionor control of the information requested;g) a statement that the request is in conformity with this Agreement an

33、d the laws and administrative practices of the requesting Party, and that if the requested information were within the jurisdiction of the requesting Party then the competent authority of the requesting Party would be able to obtain the information under the laws of the requesting Party or in the no

34、rmal course of administrative practice;h) a statementthat the requesting Party has pursued all meansavailable in its own territory to obtain the information, except those that would give rise to disproportionate difficulties.7. The competent authority of the requested Party shall forward the request

35、ed information as promptly aspossible to the competentauthority of the requesting Party. To ensurea prompt response,the competentauthority of the requestedParty shall:a) confirm receipt of a request in writing to the competent authority of the requestingParty and shall notify the competentauthority

36、of the requestingParty of any deficienciesin the requestwithin 60 daysof receiptof the request; andb) immediately inform the competent authority of the requesting Party to explain the reasons for its inability or the obstacles or its refusal, if the competent authority of the requested Party has bee

37、n unable to obtain and provide the information requested within 90 days of receipt of the request, including if obstacles are encountered in furnishing the information, or if the competent authority of the requestedParty refusesto provide the information.ARTICLE 6TAX EXAMINATIONS OR INVESTIGATIONS A

38、BROAD1. The requested Party may, in accordance with its domestic laws, following receipt of notice of a reasonabletime from the requesting Party, allow representativesof the competent authority of the requesting Party to enter the territory of the requested Party in connection with a request to inte

39、rview persons and examine records with the prior written consent of the persons concerned. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall agree on the time and place of the intended meeting with the personsconcerned.2. At the request of the competent authority of the requesting Party, an

40、d in accordancewith its domestic laws, the competent authority of the requested Party may permit representativesof the competent authority of the requesting Party to be present at the tax examination in the territory of the requestedParty.3. If the request referred to in paragraph2 is granted, the c

41、ompetent authority ofthe requested Party conducting the examination shall, as soon as possible, notify the competentauthority of the requestingParty of the time andplace of the examination, the authority or person authorised to carry out the examination and the procedures and conditions required by

42、the requested Party for the conduct of the examination. All decisions regarding the conduct of the examination shall be made by the requestedParty conducting the examination in accordancewith its domestic laws.ARTICLE 7POSSIBILITY OF DECLINING A REQUEST1. The competentauthority of the requestedParty

43、 may decline to assist:a) where the requestis not madein conformity with this Agreement;b) where the requesting Party has not pursued all means available in its own territory to obtain the information, except where recourse to such meanswould give rise to disproportionate difficulty; orc) where the

44、disclosure of the information requested would be contrary to the public policy (ordre public) of the requestedParty.2. This Agreement shall not impose upon a Contracting Party any obligation toprovide information which would disclose any trade, business,industrial, commercial or professional secret

45、or trade process. Information described in paragraph 4 of Article 5 shall not by reasonof that fact alone constitutesuch a secretor process.3. a) The provisions of this Agreement shall not impose on a Contracting Party the obligation to obtain or provide information which would reveal confidential c

46、ommunications between a client and an attorney, solicitor or other admitted legal representativewhere such communications are:(i) producedfor the purposesof seekingor providing legal advice; or(ii) produced for the purposes of use in existing or contemplated legal proceedings;b) Information held wit

47、h the intention of furthering a criminal purpose is not subject to legal privilege, and nothing in this Article shall preventa professional legal advisor from providing the name and addressof a client where doing so would not constitutea breachof legal privilege.4. A requestfor information shall not

48、 be refusedon the ground that the tax liabilitygiving rise to the requestis disputed by the taxpayer.5. The requestedParty shall not be required to obtain andprovide information which,if the requested information was within the jurisdiction of the requesting Party, the competentauthority of the requ

49、estingParty would not be able to obtain underits laws or in the normal courseof administrative practice.6. The requestedParty may decline a request for information if the information is requestedby the requestingParty to administer or enforce a provision of the tax law of the requesting Party, or an

50、y requirement connected therewith, which discriminates againsta national of the requestedParty ascompared with a national of the requesting Party in the samecircumstances.ARTICLE 8CONFIDENTIALITY1. All information provided and received by the Competent Authorities of the Contracting Parties shall be

51、 treated as confidential in the same manner as information obtained under its domestic legislation; or according to the confidentiality conditions applicable in the jurisdiction of the Contracting Party that provides such information if the latter conditions are more restrictive and shall be disclos

52、ed only to persons or authorities (including courts and administrative bodies) in the jurisdiction of the Contracting Partiesofficially concernedwith the purposesspecified in Article 1 and used by such personsor authorities only for such purposes,including the determination of any appeal. For these

53、purposes,information may be disclosedin public court proceedingsor in judicial proceedings.2. The information may not be used for any purpose other than for the purposes stated in Article 1and may not be disclosed to any other person or entity or authority or any other jurisdiction without the expre

54、ss written consent of the Competent Authority of the requestedParty.ARTICLE 9SAFEGUARDSThe rights and safeguardssecuredto persons by the laws or administrative practices of the requested Party remain applicable to the extent that they do not unduly prevent or delay effective exchangeof information.A

55、RTICLE 10ADMINISTRATIVE COSTSUnless the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties otherwise agree, ordinary costs incurred in providing assistance shall be borne by the requested Party, and extraordinary costs in providing assistance(including costs of engaging external advisors in connection

56、 with litigation or otherwise) shall be borne by the requesting Party. The respective competent authorities shall consult from time to time with regard to this Article, andin particular the competent authority of the requestedParty shall consult with the competent authority of the requesting Party i

57、n advance if the costs of providing information with respectto a specific requestareexpectedto be significant.ARTICLE 11LANGUAGERequestsfor assistanceandresponsesthereto shall be in English.ARTICLE 12MUTUAL AGREEMENT PROCEDURE1. Where difficulties or doubts arise between the Contracting Parties regarding the implementation or interpretation of this Agreement, the respective competent authorities shall usetheir best efforts to resolve thematte