Switzerland has fallen short of the internationally-agreed standard for tax transparency in a number of areas, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) peer review report released yesterday.The OECD said in its phase one report that only a limited part of the federal republic’s exchange of information (EOI) agreements met the standard, while also coming up short in terms of bearer savings books which despite being phased out remained in existence. A bearer is a form of security traded without any record of ownership.But the organisation also acknowledged that the country’s approach to EOI for tax purposes had changed significantly over the past two years and had made rapid progress to implement its commitment to the global standard.Switzerland has become one of Bermuda’s biggest rivals in recent years with a number of companies including Ace and Allied World redomiciling to Zurich and the canton of Zug respectively.“Reliable ownership, accounting and bank information for relevant entities is generally available for EOI purposes, however some issues remain in the legal framework, including in respect of ownership information for bearer shares which can be issued by some types of Swiss companies and also with regard to foreign entities carrying on business or with a permanent establishment in Switzerland,” the report stated.“As a result, essential element A1 (ownership and identity information) is not in place. A small number of bearer savings books remain in Switzerland, although Switzerland has been very active in ensuring these are phased out after the issue was noted in the 2005 report on Switzerland by the Financial Action Task Force.”It continued: “Switzerland is continuing to work to quickly upgrade its information exchange network, and has negotiated several new agreements. Although some of these agreements have been drafted to include provisions that are consistent with the internationally agreed standard, Switzerland’s initial interpretation concerning identification requirements for an exchange of information request is not in line with that standard.“However, Switzerland has since modified its initial interpretation and has indicated that action is being taken to ensure that these agreements will be interpreted as being in line with the standard. Moreover, Switzerland has indicated that it stood ready to upgrade and develop its exchange of information agreement network generally (including tax information exchange agreements), to bring it fully in line with the standard.”The OECD added that provided Switzerland had brought a significant number of its EOI agreements in line with the standard, its phase two review would be carried out in the second half of 2012.The report on the US recommended that the nation look at speeding up its response times, having recognised America’s extensive and active EOI programme which was well regarded by its peers. It concluded that while the legal and regulatory framework for the EOI was in place, an improvement was required with respect to ownership and accounting information for some limited liability companies with single foreign owners. Each report on the nine countries under review (France, Hungary, the Isle of Man, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland and the US) described the jurisdiction’s rules for ensuring that information was available, how it could be accessed by competent authorities and the mechanisms in place to exchange the information with foreign tax authorities. They also identified deficiencies and made recommendations on how these jurisdictions could improve their co-operation in international tax matters.The most common deficiencies identified in the reports related to the availability of information on persons that were represented by nominees and on foreign companies, incomplete accounting information for some forms of limited liability companies and partnerships, and slow responses by requested countries.The phase one report on Singapore flagged up a number of areas for improvement, recommending that its competent authority should have the power to obtain relevant information for all of its exchange partners regardless of whether they need it for their own tax purposes.Furthermore it put forward some improvements for the country’s EOI network to ensure it has agreements in place that meet the global standard with all relevant partners. The report also found that Singapore had the legal and regulatory framework for EOI set up.Fellow offshore financial centre the Isle of Man also received recommendations from the OECD regarding the availability of accounting information for limited partnerships and that the authorities should clarify with their partners the practice of disclosing information to other enforcement agencies.The report however found that the island’s framework for EOI was in place and the tax authorities had a positive relationship with their information exchange partners.