§ Mr. Formanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether agreement has yet been reached on a new comprehensive double taxation convention with the Government of Norway; and if he will make a statement.
543W
§ Mr. MooreThe Inland Revenue has concluded negotiations with officials of the Norwegian Ministry of Finance and the text of a revised comprehensive convention has been approved by the respective Governments. I hope it will be possible to arrange for the convention to be signed at an early date, to be followed by publication of the text as a schedule to a draft Order in Council. However, under the rules in Norway which apply to the availability of certain Government documents, the text of the draft convention will be made available in Norway before it has been signed by the Governments of the United Kingdom and Norway. In these particular circumstances I have authorised the Inland Revenue also to make available now the text of the draft convention, and I am arranging for copies of the document and the relevant Inland Revenue press release to be placed in the Library of the House.