(Business in Cameroon) - Since March 25, 2015, the Cameroonian parliament has been examining a bill authorising the Head of State, Paul Biya, to proceed with Cameroon joining the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters.

Defending the bill before the Finance Commission of Parliament, Finance Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey, explained that “the ratification requested would enable the entry into force of this convention which provides our tax administration with the opportunity to improve its collection capacities, particularly with regards to the Cameroonian subsidiaries of multinationals which, for the most part, have parent companies based in tax jurisdictions that are already signatories of the convention. This should allow for an improvement in tax revenue and, consequently, more resources for our country.”

Developed in 1988 then amended in 2010, the OECD has stated that this convention “is the most comprehensive multilateral instrument and provides [member countries with] all the possible forms of tax cooperation to fight tax evasion and tax fraud.” Previously used by only some countries, the agreement was opened to all countries on June 1, 2011.