TMI BlogAgreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain for the Exchange of Information with respect to taxesX X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... om the 11 th day of April, 2013. [F. No. 501/03/1994-FT TR-II] K. RAMALINGAM, Jt.. Secy. AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN FOR THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION WITH RESPECT TO TAXES The Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain, desiring to facilitate the exchange of information with respect to taxes have agreed as follows: Article 1 Object and Scope of the Agreement The competent authorities of the 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 relevant to the determination, assessment and collection of such taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation or prosecution of tax matters. Information shall be exchanged in accordance with the provisions of this Agreemen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inister, Government of India, or his authorized representative; ii) in the case of Bahrain, the Minister of Finance or his authorized representative; e) the term person includes an individual, a company, a body of persons and any other entity which is treated as a taxable unit under the taxation laws in force in the respective Contracting Parties; f) the term company means anybody corporate or any other entity constituted or recognized under the laws of one or other of the Contracting Parties as a body corporate; g) the term publicly traded company means any company whose principal class of shares is listed on a recognised stock exchange provided its listed shares can be readily purchased or sold by the public. Shares can be purchased or sold by the public if the purchase or sale of shares is not implicitly or explicitly restricted to a limited group of investors; h) the term principal class of shares means the class or classes of shares representing a majority of the voting power and value of the company; i) the term recognised stock exchange means (i) in India, the National Stock Exchange, the Bomba ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... equest 1. The competent authority of the requested Party shall provide upon request information for the purposes referred to in Article 1. Such information shall be exchanged without regard to whether the requested Party needs such information for its own tax purposes or whether the conduct being investigated would constitute a crime under the laws of the requested Party if such conduct occurred in the requested Party. 2. If the information in the possession of the competent authority of the requested Party is not sufficient to enable it to comply with the request for information, that Party shall use all relevant information gathering measures to provide the requesting Party with the information requested, notwithstanding that the requested Party may not need such information for its own tax purposes. 3. If specifically requested by the competent authority of the requesting Party, the competent authority of the requested Party shall provide information under this Article, to the extent allowable under its domestic laws, in the form of depositions of witnesses and authenticated copies of original records. 4. Each Contracting Party shall ensur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion 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 normal course of administrative practice and that it is in conformity with this Agreement; (h) a statement that the requesting Party has pursued all means available 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 requested information as promptly as possible to the requesting Party. To ensure a prompt response, the competent authority of the requested Party shall: (a) Confirm receipt of a request in writing to the competent authority of the requesting Party and shall notify the competent authority of the requesting Party of deficiencies in the request, if any, within 60 days of the receipt of the request; (b) If the competent authority of the requested Party has been unable to obtain and provide the information within 90 days of receipt of the request, including if it encounters obstacles in furnishing the information or it refuses to furnis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rmation described in paragraph 4 of Article 5 shall not be treated as such a secret or trade process merely because it meets the criteria in that paragraph; or (ii) to obtain or provide information, which would reveal confidential communications between a client and an attorney, solicitor or other admitted legal representative where such communications are: (a) produced for the purposes of seeking or providing legal advice or (b) produced for the purposes of use in existing or contemplated legal proceedings; or (iii) to carry out administrative measures at variance with its laws and administrative practices, provided nothing in this subparagraph shall affect the obligations of a Contracting Party under paragraph 4 of Article 5. 3. A request for information shall not be refused on the ground that the tax claim giving rise to the request is disputed. 4. The requested Party shall not be required to obtain and provide information which the requesting Party would be unable to obtain in similar circumstances under its own laws for the purpose of the administration or enforcement of its own tax laws or in response to a valid requ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Article 12 Termination 1. This Agreement shall remain in force until terminated by either Contracting Party. 2. Either Contracting Party may, after the expiry of five years from the date of its entry into force, terminate the Agreement by serving a written notice of termination to the other Contracting Party through diplomatic channels. 3. Such termination shall become effective on the first day of the month following the expiration of a period of six months after the date of receipt of notice of termination by the other Contracting Party. All requests received up to the effective date of termination shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement. In witness whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this Agreement. DONE in duplicate at New Delhi this 31st day of May 2012, each in the Hindi, Arabic and English languages, all texts being equally authentic. In case of divergence of interpretation, the English text shall prevail. For the Government of the For the Government of the Sd/- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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