CPD/CPT Course:
The Changing
Global Landscape
of International Tax
Co-operation:
BEPS and
the Trade/Investment
Challenges

Dr. Julien Chaisse currently serves as professor at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU), School of Law.  He is an award-winning and world-renowned expert on international economic law (trade, investment, and tax), cyberlaw, and international dispute resolution.  His work has garnered wide academic recognition and has been cited by international courts/tribunals as well as the U.S. Courts.  He is the awardee of the Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship (2021) and the recipient of the Smit-Lowenfeld Prize from the International Arbitration Club of New York (2020).  He also sits on the editorial boards of several high impact academic journals, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Asia Pacific Law Review.

Dr. Chaisse is an accomplished senior arbitrator.  Numbers of his adjudications have been reported by local and international press.  He is frequently called upon as an expert witness in international trade/investment litigation and arbitration, to advise international organizations, governments, law firms, and private investors on private/public international law issues (e.g., concessions contracts, special economic zones, investment structuring, state and international organization immunities, and WTO accession), and he has assisted over twenty jurisdictions in drafting trade/investment treaties and legislation.

Dr. Chaisse is currently President and Chair of the Asia Pacific FDI Network (APFN), which is the most important organization in the region that focuses on researching foreign direct investment and facilitating cooperation among over 100 scholars and 50 institutions.  He has extensive experience working as a corporate board member, and serving on the board of directors/advisory board for a number of international organizations, including the World Free Zone Convention (WFZC), the Academy of International Dispute Resolution & Professional Negotiation (AIDRN), the National Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), and the Asian Academy of International Law (AAIL).  In addition, Dr. Chaisse is an active member of the World Economic Forum (“Tax and Globalization Working Group” and “Data Policy Platform”), a member of the Hong Kong’s Government Board of Review (Inland Revenue Ordinance), an advisor and partner to the United Nations ARTNET on FDI, and a member of the Academic Forum on Investor-state Dispute Settlement.  He also serves as Director of the Dot Trademark Policy Committee (DTPC), a co-founder of the Internet Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), and is a member of the ICANN’s Working Group, which produced the Report of the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs, among other highly-regarded white papers.

Prior to joining CityU Law School, Dr. Chaisse taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Law (2009-2019) where he served as Director of one the Faculty’s research centres as well as Director of PhD & MPhil Program.  Before moving to Hong Kong, he worked as deputy head of the working group on the rules and regulations for multilateral trade and investment agreements at the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland (2006-2009), as a lecturer at Elite School Sciences Po Aix in France (2004-2006), and as a diplomat for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France at the French Embassy in New Delhi, India (2001-2004).

The global landscape in the fight against cross-border tax avoidance and tax evasion has changed dramatically since the third International Conference on Financing for Development held in Addis Ababa in 2015.  A panel of senior experts will discuss the progress made by the UN and the OECD since the Addis call for more inclusiveness, both in terms of institutional arrangements and policy guidance, to support developing countries in coping with the challenges posed by international tax avoidance and evasion.  The call for change was made with a view to increasing tax revenues for investment in sustainable development.

The effectiveness and operational capacity of the UN Committee of Experts on International Co-operation in Tax Matters has been strengthened and its engagement with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) increased.  The panel will show how this allowed the UN to achieve some important milestones in addressing international tax avoidance and evasion, including relevant updates to the UN Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries and the UN Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing for Developing Countries as well as the adoption of the UN Code of Conduct on Co-operation in Combating International Tax Evasion.

The Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information (the Global Forum) have also been important in helping to bring about change, and in taking forward the commitments as agreed in Addis.  The course will explain how nearly 100 countries and jurisdictions are working together on an equal footing in the Inclusive Framework on BEPS to tackle tax avoidance, in particular preventing tax treaty abuse and introducing country-by-country reporting for the activities of multinational enterprises.

• The BEPS outputs are soft law legal instruments.  They are not legally binding but there is an expectation that they will be implemented accordingly by countries that are part of the consensus.
• The past track record in the tax area is rather positive.  Minimum standards were agreed in particular to tackle issues in cases where no action by some countries would have created negative spill overs (including adverse impacts of competitiveness) on other countries.
• Recognising the need to level the playing field, all OECD and G20 countries have committed to consistent implementation in the areas of preventing treaty shopping, Country-by-Country Reporting, fighting harmful tax practices and improving dispute resolution.
• In addition, existing standards have been updated and will be implemented, noting however that not all BEPS participants have endorsed the underlying standards on tax treaties or transfer pricing.
• In other areas, such as recommendations on hybrid mismatch arrangements and best practices on interest deductibility, countries have agreed a general tax policy direction.  In these areas, they are expected to converge over time through the implementation of the agreed common approaches, thus enabling further consideration of whether such measures should become minimum standards in the future.
• Guidance based on best practices will also support countries intending to act in the areas of mandatory disclosure initiatives or CFC legislation.
• New tax rules may however conflict with investment treaties and trade rules.