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    Multilateral Convention to implement BEPS Measures (MLI)

    Article | Last updated: 27/02/2024 | Ministry of Finance

    Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.

    The Convention was signed on 7 June 2017 and the instrument of ratification was deposited on 17 July 2019. The Convention will enter into force for Norway on 1 November 2019 as specified in Article 34 of the Convention. The entry into effect for each tax treaty covered by the MLI is regulated in Article 35 of the Convention.

    The purpose of the MLI is to modify existing tax treaties by implementing measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting. The MLI is implementing the tax treaty-related measures developed under the OECD/G20 BEPS project.

    The text of the MLI with annexes are included in Prop. 15 S (2018-2019).

    The provisions of the MLI chosen to be applied by a party will in principle modify their existing tax treaties. However, even though a jurisdiction has chosen a certain provision in the MLI to amend one or more tax treaties, the modification will not have effect unless the other jurisdiction has made the same notification. Norway’s reservations and notifications is included in Annex 2 in Prop. 15 S (2018-2019) (Norwegian text only).

    The MLI will modify 28 of the existing tax treaties Norway has entered into with other countries. The relevant amendments and their entry into effect depend on both parties’ reservations and notifications and when the two parties ratify the MLI. The MLI is an independent tax treaty and as such it does not change the actual text of an existing tax treaty.

    However, to make the modified treaty texts more accessible, the Ministry of Finance has published so-called synthesised texts which are intended to show how the MLI will apply in relation to each relevant tax treaty. The sole purpose of the synthesised texts is merely to facilitate the understanding of how the MLI applies to the treaty. The texts do not constitute a source of law. Apart from some minor deviations, the synthesised texts are based on the OECD guidelines for synthesised texts. The so-called synthesised texts will be published consecutively as soon as the are finalised.

    The tax treaties with the following jurisdictions are covered by the MLI, and their provisions will be modified once the MLI enters into effect for the relevant treaty:

    For more information about the MLI, as well as information about reservations and notifications made by other countries, see the OECD website.

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