In today’s globalised economy effective information exchange is essential for countries to maintain sovereignty over the application and enforcement of their tax laws and to ensure the correct application of tax conventions. While taxpayers can operate relatively unconstrained by national borders, tax authorities must respect these borders in carrying out their functions. Exchange of information provisions offer them a legal framework for co-operating across borders without violating the sovereignty of other countries or the rights of taxpayers.

The OECD has developed a number of instruments that provide a legal framework for exchange of information:
- Article 26 of the Model Tax Convention 
- Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters  (developed jointly with a number of non-member economies)
- Council of Europe/OECD Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters  

All OECD instruments include strict confidentiality rules that protect against unauthorised disclosure of information exchanged.

Exchange of information requires that tax authorities have good access to information and the OECD is working to improve access to information, both from a legal (e.g. Improving Access to Bank Information for Tax Purposes) and from a practical perspective (e.g. Manual on the Implementation of Exchange of Information Provisions for Tax Purposes, Reference Guide on Sources of Information from Abroad). 

In addition, the OECD is also seeking to improve exchange of information through the use of new technologies to transmit information. In recent years the OECD Council has made a number of Recommendations to improve the effectiveness of exchange of information:

OECD Model Agreement for Simultaneous Tax Examinations

Use of Tax Identification Numbers in an International Context

Use of the OECD Standard Magnetic Format for Automatic Exchange

OECD Model Memorandum of Understanding for Automatic Exchange of Information  

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