The directive, to which the Isle of Man is conditionally committed, is aimed at combating cross-border tax evasion within the European Union.
The adoption date has been pushed back to allow sufficient time for Switzerland to ratify the 'Bilaterals II' treaties through its parliament.

The four key elements of this agreement with Switzerland will constitute the basis for the forthcoming agreements with other 'third' countries, namely Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino.

The commission has also confirmed that 'all matters of substance' with the dependent and associated territories of the Netherlands and the UK have now been resolved, and model agreements have been drafted to allow for bilateral savings tax agreements between member states and each of these territories.

'While the directive will now start to apply six months later than originally planned, the agreement reached today represents a remarkable achievement for the EU,' said EC for taxation Frits Bolkestein in a statement issued last week.