The Financial Information Unit Implemented the Collaboration Procedure for the Tax Authority

On December 1, 2011, Resolution No. 220/2011 (the “Resolution”) enacted by the Financial Information Unit (“UIF”) was published in the Official Gazette. The Resolution governs the duty of collaboration that shall be granted by the Tax Authority pursuant to Law No. 25,246 as amended, regarding assets laundering or terrorism financing operations.

Section 14, subsection 1 of aforementioned Law No. 25,246 provides that the UIF shall have the power to request from the subjects mentioned in Section 20, which includes the Tax Authority, reports and any other element deemed useful for the purposes of complying with its duties. Said requirement may not be refused by opposing banking, tax, stock or professional secrecy, nor legal or contract confidentiality commitments.

In line with the outlined regulation, Section 2 of the Resolution sets forth that in the event that the UIF requires the Tax Authority to produce the reports, documents, background information or any other element deemed useful for the fulfillment of its obligations that are protected by tax secrecy, such request shall be provided by the Tax Authority within a maximum term of 15 working days.

In addition, Exhibit I (the “Exhibit”) sets forth that the Tax Authority shall collaborate for the purposes of conducting the requested supervisions, audits and inspections in order to assess compliance with Law No. 25,246 (Section 1), and shall produce a report illustrating the results of its intervention (Section 4, second paragraph).

Finally, Section 6 of the Exhibit provides that upon detection of any Suspicious Assets Laundering or Terrorism Financing Operations, the Tax Authority must report them to UIF pursuant to Resolution UIF No. 38/2011.