China signed the Multilateral Convention of Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters at a ceremony in Paris today. It means that all of the Group of Twenty countries have now fulfilled the commitment they made at the Cannes summit in 2011 to move towards automatic exchange of information as the global standard.

OECD general secretary Angel Gurria said the signing was both ‘timely and important’. 

He added: ‘This convention provides the ideal instrument to swiftly implement automatic exchange and to do so with a wide range of partners. This also represent another significant step in the strengthening of collaboration between China and the OECD.’

The convention allows spontaneous exchange of information, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in tax collection. The OECD claims it is a ‘valuable tool’ for governments in the fight against offshore tax evasion.

The convention now has a total of 56 signatories, including smaller economies such as Albania, Costa Rica, Iceland and Singapore as well as all of the G20 nations.