Za Zvezno republiko Nemčijo Werner Burkart l.r.
The Republic of Slovenia and The Federal Republic of Germany –
Desiring to conclude a Protocol amending the Agreement of 3 May 2006 between the Republic of Slovenia and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital –
Have agreed as follows:
Article I
Article 26 of the Agreement shall be reformulated as follows:
“Article 26
Exchange of Information
(1) The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall exchange such information as is foreseeably relevant for carrying out the provisions of this Agreement or to the administration or enforcement of the domestic laws concerning taxes of every kind and description imposed on behalf of the Contracting States, of a Land or a political subdivision or local authority of a Contracting State or Land, insofar as the taxation thereunder is not contrary to the Agreement. The exchange of information is not restricted by Articles 1 and 2.
(2) Any information received under paragraph 1 by a Contracting State shall be treated as secret in the same manner as information obtained under the domestic laws of that State and shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including courts and administrative bodies) concerned with the assessment or collection of, the enforcement or prosecution in respect of, or with the determination of appeals in relation to the taxes referred to in paragraph 1, or the oversight of the above. Such persons or authorities shall use the information only for such purposes. They may disclose the information in public court proceedings or in judicial decisions. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the information may be used for other purposes, if under the law of both States it may be used for these other purposes and the competent authority of the supplying State has agreed to this use.
(3) In no case shall the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 be construed so as to impose on a Contracting State the obligation:
a) to carry out administrative measures for the supply of information at variance with the laws and administrative practice of that or of the other Contracting State;
b) to supply information which is not obtainable under the laws or in the normal course of the administration of that or of the other Contracting State;
c) to supply information which would disclose any trade, business, industrial, commercial or professional secret or trade process, or information, the disclosure of which would be contrary to public policy (ordre public).
(4) If information is requested by a Contracting State under this Article, the other Contracting State shall use its information gathering measures to obtain the requested information, even though that other State may not need such information for its own tax purposes. The obligation contained in the preceding sentence is subject to the limitations of paragraph 3, whereby this shall, however, in no case be construed to permit a Contracting State to decline to supply information solely because it has no domestic taxation interest in that information.
(5) In no case shall the provisions of paragraph 3 be construed to permit a Contracting State to decline to supply information solely because the information is held by a bank, other financial institution, nominee or person acting in an agency or a fiduciary capacity or because it relates to ownership interests in a person.”
Article II
Number 5 of the Protocol to the Agreement shall be reformulated as follows:
“5. With reference to Article 26
Insofar as personal data are supplied under Article 26, the following additional provisions shall apply:
a) The receiving agency may use such data in compliance with paragraph 2 of Article 26 only for the purpose stated by the supplying agency and shall be subject to the conditions prescribed by the supplying agency.
b) The supplying agency shall be obliged to ensure that the data to be supplied are accurate and their foreseeable relevance within the meaning of the first sentence of paragraph 1 of Article 26 and that they are proportionate to the purpose for which they are supplied. Data are foreseeably relevant if in the concrete case at hand there is the serious possibility that the other Contracting State has a right to tax and there is nothing to indicate that the data are already known to the competent authority of the other Contracting State or that the competent authority of the other Contracting State would learn of the taxable object without the information. If it emerges that inaccurate data or data which should not have been supplied have been supplied, the receiving agency shall be informed of this without delay. That agency shall be obliged to correct or erase such data without delay. If data have been supplied spontaneously, the receiving agency shall check without delay whether the data are needed for the purpose for which they were supplied; that agency shall immediately erase any data which is not needed.
c) The receiving agency shall on request inform the supplying agency on a case-by-case basis for the purpose of informing the person concerned about the use of the supplied data and the results achieved thereby.
d) The receiving agency shall inform the person concerned of the data collection by the supplying agency. The person concerned need not be informed if and as long as on balance it is considered that the public interest in not informing him outweighs his right to be informed.
e) Upon application the person concerned shall be informed of the supplied data relating to him and of the use to which such data are to be put. The second sentence of paragraph d) shall apply accordingly.
f) The receiving agency shall bear liability under its domestic laws in relation to any person suffering unlawful damage in connection with the supply of data under the exchange of data pursuant to this Agreement. In relation to the damaged person, the receiving agency may not plead to its discharge that the damage had been caused by the supplying agency.
g) The supplying and the receiving agencies shall be obliged to keep official records of the supply and receipt of personal data.
h) The personal data supplied shall be erased as soon as they are no longer required for the purpose for which they were supplied.
i) The supplying and the receiving agencies shall be obliged to take effective measures to protect the personal data supplied against unauthorised access, unauthorised alteration and unauthorised disclosure.”
Article III
(1) This Protocol shall be ratified, and the instruments of ratification shall be exchanged as soon as possible in Berlin.
(2) This Protocol shall enter into force on the day of the exchange of the instruments of ratification and shall have immediate effect in both Contracting States.
Done at Ljubljana on 17 May 2011 in duplicate, each in the Slovenian, German and English languages, all three texts being authentic. In the case of divergent interpretations of the German and Slovenian texts the English text shall prevail.
For the
Republic of Slovenia
Mateja Vraničar (s)
For the
Federal Republic of Germany
Werner Burkart (s)