The OECD argued that, despite efforts by its member countries and a number of co-operative financial centres to "address the problems posed by anti-competitive tax practices" by developing standards of transparency and exchange of information in tax matters, "a few jurisdictions still fall short of best-practice standards, effectively providing a basis for illegal tax evasion on the part of some of their customers".

In 2002, the OECD published a list of un-cooperative tax havens, initially including twenty-seven countries. Most have now made commitments to work with OECD and its partners to improve transparency. But three remain on the list: Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein.

"As long as there are financial centres that refuse to co-operate in bilateral tax information exchange and that fail to meet international transparency standards, residents in other countries will continue to be tempted to continue to evade their tax obligations," Gurría commented.

"The openness of the global economy can only be sustained if participants assume mutual responsibilities, as well as sharing benefits. Excessive bank secrecy rules and a failure to exchange information on foreign tax evaders are relics of a different time and have no role to play in the relations between democratic societies," he concluded.