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US, NETHERLANDS SIGN TAX TREATY PROTOCOL

WASHINGTON, DC - The US and the Netherlands have signed a Protocol to their bilateral income tax treaty at a recent ceremony in Washington attended by U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow and Dutch State Secretary for Finance Joop Wijn.

Tax treaties are a "key element" of US international economic policy, Snow said, "because they serve to reduce tax barriers to international trade and investment."

He said the treaty between the United States and the Netherlands, which became effective January 1, 1994, included "groundbreaking provisions" that have served as a model for other tax treaties.
 
The new Protocol modernizes the provisions preventing inappropriate exploitation of the treaty to take into account economic developments and changes in treaty practices over the past decade.

The new rules are simpler, clearer and more effective; provides for exclusive residence-country taxation of certain intercompany dividends. This elimination of withholding taxes removes a remaining barrier to investment between our two countries in both directions.

It also provides clear rules regarding the treatment of investments made through partnerships, allowing flexibility in business form; and further coordinates the two countries' tax rules relating to pensions, allowing individuals to take up employment opportunities in either country without concerns about unintended tax effects on their retirement benefits.

The text of the U.S.-Dutch tax treaty is available at:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/nether.pdf. The text of the new Protocol is available at:
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/reports/protocol.pdf

US WINS TELECOM WTO CASE AGAINST MEXICO

WASHINGTON, DC - The US has won a victory at the World Trade Organization that could save US consumers and companies billions of dollars in phone charges on calls to Mexico, according to US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

"Mexico has provided a single, dominant company with a government mandate to set excessive rates for international calls to Mexico," Zoellick said in a statement.
 
The decision, he said, "is an important victory for American consumers and for the telecommunications industry."

DANISH COMPANY FINED FOR COMMERCIAL FAXES

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - A Danish company was fined more than $66,7000 for sending more than 15,000 unsolicited commercial faxes, which are considered "spam" under Danish law.

In the second case in Denmark since the adoption of anti-spam legislation in 2000, the Maritime and Commercial Court in Copenhagen convicted TeleRingen Aircom, ruling it ignored several requests from Denmark's consumer agency to stop sending the faxes.

Last year, Fonn - a small, Copenhagen-based software company, was convicted and fined $2,500 for sending 156 unsolicited commercial e-mails during 2002.

The ruling "will not stop spam in Denmark but it will definitely put a cork in it," said Martin Thorborg, co-founder of the Copenhagen-based SPAM-fighter company. "The fine will tell spammers across the world that it's not acceptable and that it can be costly."

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