16.12.2014 Official Journal of the European Union L 359/1 (Legislative acts) DIRECTIVES COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2014/107/EU of 9 December 2014 amending Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 115 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (), Acting in accordance with a special legislative procedure, Whereas: (1) In recent years, the challenge posed by cross-border tax fraud and tax evasion has increased considerably and has become a major focus of concern within the Union and at global level. Unreported and untaxed income is consid- erably reducing national tax revenues. An increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of tax collection is therefore urgently needed. The automatic exchange of information constitutes an important tool in this regard and the Commission in its communication of 6 December 2012 containing an Action Plan to strengthen the fight against tax fraud and tax evasion highlighted the need to promote vigorously the automatic exchange of information as the future European and international standard for transparency and exchange of information in tax matters. (2)  The importance of automatic exchange of information as a means to combat cross-border tax fraud and tax evasion has recently been recognised also at the international level (G20 and G8). Following the negotiations between the United States of America and several other countries, including all Member States, on bilateral auto- matic exchange agreements to implement the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (commonly known as FATCA), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was mandated by the G20 to build on these agreements to develop a single global standard for automatic exchange of tax information. (3)  The European Council on 22 May 2013 requested the extension of automatic information exchange at Union and global levels with a view to combating tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning. The European Council also welcomed ongoing efforts made in the G20, G8, and OECD to develop a global standard for automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters. () 0JC67,6.3.2014, p. 68.