Gibraltar Removed From Unco-operative Tax Havens List

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

18 March 2002

The OECD announced on Thursday that it has withdrawn Gibraltar from its list of 'unco-operative tax havens' following the Government's commitment to improve the transparency of its tax and regulatory systems.

On February 28, the Rock's authorities announced that they had agreed to establish rules for the effective exchange of information on tax matters by 2005. In a letter to the OECD, they explained: 'The Gibraltar Government has already stated publicly many months ago that it would make the commitments to ensure that Gibraltar remained at the forefront of mainstream, well-regulated international finance centres of the highest repute.'

Commenting on the agreement at the time, Chief Minister Peter Caruana observed that: 'Many of the objectives of the OECD report are already reflected in Gibraltar's laws and administrative practices.' He added that: 'Gibraltar supports the raising of standards and elimination of harmful tax practices in all financial centres across the world,' but stressed the need for there to be a level playing field for OECD members and non-members alike on the issue.

Announcing Gibraltar's withdrawal, the OECD revealed that commitments made by several other jurisdictions still currently included on the blacklist are being considered, and that a new version of the list will be published in late March or early April.

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