Event description
The UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation is being designed not only to establish substantive commitments, but also to create a governance system capable of making those commitments meaningful over time. Whether the Convention succeeds will depend heavily on the institutions, resources and information systems built around it.
This webinar will bring together the closely connected questions of governance, financing, data collection, analysis, review and verification. Articles 15 and 16 of the draft Convention are central to determining whether Parties can assess progress against the objectives they have agreed, including whether existing tax instruments are being brought into alignment with the Convention. Effective implementation will require robust systems for collecting, analysing and publishing data, as well as institutional capacity to interpret that information and translate it into review, accountability and future decision-making. Proposals such as public country-by-country reporting and a possible Center for Monitoring Taxing Rights illustrate the kinds of infrastructure that could support this task.
But data and accountability mechanisms cannot function without adequate and durable financing. The Convention’s secretariat, subsidiary bodies, review processes and technical infrastructure will all require predictable resources. How those resources are raised and governed is therefore not a secondary implementation issue, but a core question of institutional design. Overreliance on voluntary or earmarked funding may create imbalances, favour the priorities of better-resourced contributors, and result in fragmented initiatives rather than a stable multilateral architecture.
The panel will explore what kind of legal and institutional framework is needed to support effective implementation of the Convention. It will consider how financing arrangements can reinforce rather than weaken inclusive governance; what transparency and data systems are required to track progress; how review and verification mechanisms should operate; and what roles academia, civil society and other stakeholders can play alongside public authorities.
Ultimately, the discussion will ask a broader question: what does the Convention need, institutionally and financially, to become an effective and accountable framework rather than a set of largely aspirational commitments?
Speakers:
- Ameth Lamine Babou, Tax Inspector – Directorate General of Taxes and Domains (Senegal)
- Erin Graham, Associate Professor of Global Affairs; Director, Governance and Policy Major, Master of Global Affairs – Keough School of Global Affairs (United States)
- Peter Ringstad, Senior Adviser, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) (Norway)
Moderator: Florencia Lorenzo, Tax Justice Network