La convention BEPS sur la fiscalité internationale : quoi de neuf pour le droit international ?

Abstract

The article looks at the public international law aspects of the BEPS Convention adopted in 2016 and open for signature in 2017. This OECD and G20 Multilateral Instrument (MLI) raises first of all the question whether international tax law is a branch of public international like any other. To answer this question, the paper looks at the specificities of the Convention, through both its normative contents and the treaty law techniques that are used to craft this rather unusual instrument. The first part of the analysis thus draws on some of the substantive rules of the MLI such as the introduction of a new aim of fighting against the double non-imposition but it also critically assesses the procedural provisions relating to dispute settlement in international tax issues. In the second part, the paper particularly dwells upon the different flexibility clauses which amount to much more than the reservations system classically known in public international law. It also draws attention to the way in which the MLI relates to the bilateral tax conventions that it aims at modifying, thus questining the truly multilateral nature of the instrument.