Taxation (International and Other Provisions) Act 2010 section 128A

Power by regulations to give effect to international obligations etc.

Section 128A gives the Treasury a broad power to make regulations implementing the EU Tax Dispute Resolution Directive and related international agreements dealing with the resolution of double taxation disputes.

• The Treasury may make regulations to implement EU Council Directive 2017/1852 on tax dispute resolution, any instruments that modify or supplement it, and any international agreements dealing with similar matters or the resolution of double taxation disputes more generally.
• The regulations may cover a wide range of matters, including HMRC arrangements with overseas authorities, procedural rules for dispute resolution, costs and fees, penalties and criminal offences, appeals, and the conferral of functions on persons, commissions, tribunals or courts (including those outside the UK).
• The regulations may have retrospective effect, apply to matters outside the UK, amend or repeal existing legislation, and make different provision for different purposes — but any criminal offence they create may not carry a prison sentence on indictment of more than two years.
• Where the regulations amend or repeal primary legislation (i.e. Acts of Parliament, Acts of the Scottish Parliament, Measures or Acts of the National Assembly for Wales, or Northern Ireland legislation), they must be approved in draft by the House of Commons before they can be made.