Bermuda and the Czech Republic yesterday signed a tax information exchange agreement in a ceremony at Camden.Premier and Finance Minister Paula Cox and First Deputy Minister Ladislav Mincic, of the Czech Ministry of Finance, signed the documents on behalf of their countries.The agreement will provide for a full exchange of information on criminal and civil tax matters between the two countries. It includes provisions to protect the confidentiality of information provided, as well as adhering to public policy, provisions related to protecting legal privilege, and to ensure that requests for information from the Czech Republic are relevant to tax investigations being conducted by Czech Republic authorities.Completion of the agreement negotiations were announced in February this year.Premier Cox said: “Our TIEA signed today establishes the Czech Republic as the 11th member of the EU to have a TIEA with Bermuda and is our 26th signed agreement for exchange of information for tax purposes.“Several TIEAs with further members of the EU are waiting for those countries to ready themselves to sign, the negotiations having been completed some time ago.“We welcome the signing of the TIEA today as another opportunity to emphasise that Bermuda’s business model is a positive and well balanced component of the global financial system committed to international cooperation to prevent illegal activity such as breaking any country’s tax law and simultaneously fostering legitimate global trade doing our part to return the global financial system to full strength.”