Switzerland has signed the multilateral tax convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters, developed by the OECD and Council of Europe.

Switzerland is the 58th country to sign the convention, which was developed jointly by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988 and amended in 2010. It sets a framework for joint working on tax issues, including information exchange on request, spontaneous tax examinations, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in tax collection, while protecting taxpayers' rights.

Switzerland is also moving towards offering other jurisdictions automatic exchanging of financial information.

OECD secretary-general, Angel Gurria said: 'It sends a clear and strong signal that Switzerland is part of the community of states which consider international tax co-operation as a necessity. This signature is an important step for Switzerland to resolve the issues identified in its Peer Review by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information on June 2011.'

More details are available from the OECD