On 27 May 2015, officials from the European Union and Switzerland signed an agreement for the automatic exchange of financial account information, which upgrades a 2004 agreement that ensured that Switzerland applies measures equivalent to those in an EU directive on the taxation of savings income. Under the agreement, information on the financial accounts of residents of EU Member States and Switzerland will be automatically exchanged in order to counter tax avoidance/evasion. The agreement is expected to enter into force in 2017, and the automatic exchange of information will begin in 2018.