Korea has been appointed as the Vice-Chair of the Bureau of the ad hoc intergovernmental committee composed of a total of 20 countries, at the Ad Hoc Committee to Draft Terms of Reference (TOR) for a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on February 20 local time.

This is part of follow-up measures to the resolution 78/230, “Promotion of inclusive and effective international tax cooperation at the United Nations” adopted at the UN General Assembly on December 22, 2023, which was proposed by the African region to set up a legally binding agreement, aiming to enhance inclusive and effective international tax cooperation.

The resolution establishes an ad hoc intergovernmental Committee mandated to develop draft TOR for a United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation, with a view to finalizing the Committee’s work by August 2024. For this purpose, the committee has selected 20 countries to serve on the bureau, with 4 countries representing each of the 5 regions, out of the total 193 member states.

The bureau of the ad hoc intergovernmental committee consists of one Chair (Egypt), 18 Vice-Chairs, and one Rapporteur. For Korea, the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s Director-General for International Tax, Jung Byung-sik, was appointed as one of the vice-chairs.

In the Asia-Pacific region, eight countries were paired off, with each pair participating in the committee on a rotating basis. Korea has been grouped with Japan, agreeing to first carry out the duty in the first half of the year.

Going forward, the Bureau of the ad hoc intergovernmental committee plans to develop the TOR for the convention by taking into account the needs of developing countries while also balancing the interests of both developing and developed countries in the discussions on international tax cooperation.

Following Korea’s joining of the board of the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs, its involvement in the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation as a vice-chair of the ad hoc intergovernmental committee is deemed as a significant elevation of the nation’s global status in the field of international taxation, playing a pivotal role as a rule-setter.

Please refer to the attached files.