SUMMARY
The Global Forum has found France to remain overall Compliant with the international standard on transparency and exchange of information upon request, as was the case in its previous report in 2011. This recognises France’s continued efforts in ensuring a high level of transparency for tax purposes over the review period. In particular, the review found that France has in place an adequate system that provides for the availability of beneficial ownership information which is a new requirement of the international standard. The French competent authority has sufficient powers to access the relevant information, in line with the standard. With one of the largest exchange of information network in the world that covers 165 jurisdictions, France has been able to exchange a large volume of incoming and outgoing information during the reviewed period on a generally satisfactorily manner (from 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2016). However, there has been less progress in the timeliness of responses and in the communication with its partners and France is again recommended to improve these aspects.