§ Mr. HardyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 16 December,Official Report, column 842, in which OECD states sovereign immunity arrangements in respect of repayment of taxes upon business are more severe than in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. DorrellThe arrangements which most OECD countries adopt in this area are not statutory and comprehensive information about their practice is not available. An exception is the United States of America which, under section 892 of the IRS code, provides a statutory exemption for the investment income of foreign Governments. Although details are not available, I understand that a number of other OECD countries adopt a similar approach in practice.