The Commission welcomed an agreement reached at the ECOFIN Council meeting on 21 February that lays down new rules to help prevent tax avoidance via non-EU countries. This latest addition to the EU's anti-tax avoidance toolbox will prohibit multinational companies from escaping corporate tax by exploiting differences between the tax systems of Member States and those of non-EU countries (so-called ‘hybrid mismatches’). The new provisions build on the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) agreed upon last July, which sets out EU-wide anti-abuse measures against tax avoidance. Hybrid mismatches occur when countries have different rules for the tax treatment of certain income or entities, which multinational companies can abuse to avoid being taxed in either country. The new agreement (ATAD 2) will prevent hybrid mismatches of all types from being used to avoid tax in the EU, even when the arrangements involve third countries. The new rules will come into force on January 1, 2020, with a longer phasing-in period of 2022 for one article (Art. 9a).