Isle Of Man Seminar To Address Main OECD Issues

by Robert Lee, Tax-news.com, London

09 April 2001

As crunch time approaches for those offshore jurisdictions waiting to see if they will be removed from the OECD's harmful tax competition blacklist, the Isle of Man's Association of Corporate Service Providers (ACSP) is to host a seminar on OECD issues.

The seminar will take place on Thursday April 26 at the Mount Murray Hotel. Topics to be covered include the role of offshore centres in the world's financial systems; an overview of the main initiatives against offshore centres; the implications of the proposed changes for personal financial privacy and creating a level playing field for international financial services.

The Isle of Man itself is set to be one of the first jurisdictions to be removed from the OECD's blacklist when it is reviewed in July. Although a welcome prospect, the Isle of Man, like the other UK dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey, has not held back in expressing its contempt for the OECD initiative. At a forum in Paris earlier this year, the Isle of Man's Chief Minister, Donald Gelling, attacked the multilaterals saying: 'We seem to have witnessed a period of unprecedented international suspicion about the nature of business transacted in small financial centres. On the tax front we have had to contend with the OECD harmful tax competition report and the various European Union tax initiatives. The prejudice in some quarters has been palpable.'

The main speaker at this month's ACSP seminar has been named as Richard J Hay, international tax partner in the London office of Canadian lawyers Stikeman Elliott and counsel to the Bahamas government, advising on OECD and other initiatives. Also addressing the seminar will be the Manx government's chief financial officer, John Cashen.

Entrance is free to ACSP members, for others the cost is £25. Further details are available from Marie Lambden, executive officer of the ACSP, 12-14 Finch Road, Douglas.

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