e.5 Advisory commision's decision

The advisory commission will issue a decision in writing addressed to the competent authorities of the Member States concerned and that decision will be communicated to them.

The manner in which the decision is made and the time limit for doing so will vary depending on the instrument under which the mutual agreement procedure is conducted.

In the case of procedures conducted under a Tax Treaty with an arbitration provision, the provisions of that convention or its bilateral implementing agreements will apply.

If the mutual agreement procedure is conducted under the Arbitration Convention or under the mechanism provided for in the Directive, the advisory commission will have six months in which to make its decision. In the first case, that period of time will be calculated from when the advisory commission receives all the relevant documentation and information from the states involved (Article 32 of the Regulation on Mutual Agreement Procedures), while, for the mechanism provided for in the Directive, the time limit will be calculated from the date on which the advisory commission was set up (Article 51.1 of the Regulation on Mutual Agreement Procedures) and may be extended, by the commission itself, by three further months. In that case, it must inform the competent authorities of the Member States concerned and the taxpayers of the extension.

In both cases, the decision will be made by a simple majority of its members (Article 11.2 of the Arbitration Convention and Article 51.3 of the Regulation on Mutual Agreement Procedures ), with the chair having the casting vote where the procedure is conducted under the mechanism established in the Directive.