"It is quite out of the question that Switzerland should carry out the expensive groundwork and be ready by the allotted date, while nothing or very little has so far been done in other countries," Urs Roth, the SBA's chief executive told the association's annual general meeting last Thursday.

"We therefore extend our appeal to the official Swiss bodies, and implore them not to make Switzerland the model pupil, thereby placing it at a competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis other countries," he added.

Mr Roth noted that the specific agreement between Switzerland and the EU regarding the directive and the implementation of a witholding tax by 2005 has not yet been published or officially signed. "It would appear that the Eurocrats in Brussels considered the matter closed and packed their suitcases for the long summer break," said Roth. "As a result, the [government] cannot present the proposed agreement to the Swiss parliament."

The SBA also took the opportunity to attack the OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development), or more specifically, a commission within the organisation known as the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices, which has threatened to place Switzerland on a blacklist of countries that attract a high level of holding companies.

"Switzerland must vehemently defend itself against concepts that clearly ignore a country’s democratic right to self-determination and are motivated primarily by political or competition considerations," said Roth, who blames the development on political pressure brought to bear by nations such as Germany and the United Kingdom which, he alleges, would like to undermine Switzerland's competitive tax regime.