OECD List To Be Reissued This Week

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

16 April 2002

Later this week the OECD will finally release the updated version of its blacklist of offshore financial centres deemed to have harmful tax regimes, but out of the original 35 territories only nine are expected to remain on the list: Andorra, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Panama, Samoa and Vanuatu. Niue signed a commitment letter yesterday, ensuring its removal from the list.

The retention of tight banking secrecy is behind many of the inclusions: Andorra is so secret that even information about its attitude towards the OECD has been non-existent - a kind of information black hole; and Liechtenstein said for the umpteenth time last week it would not give the OECD a commitment to reform its banking secrecy rules. Monaco and Liechtenstein were both removed from the FATF list of un-cooperative money laundering regimes last year, but this has not helped them with the OECD, which says that Monaco puts difficulties in the way of other countries seeking assistance over serious financial crimes.

The Marshall Islands, Nauru and Niue remain on the FATF's blacklist and have refused to co-operate with efforts to combat money laundering. Panama was removed from the FATF list but has not done enough to placate the OECD. Liberia is suspected of involvement in financing the war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

It is not clear what will happen to the territories remaining on the list. 'Sanctions' have been talked about, and it is possible for OECD members to step up the issue of 'advisories' by instructing their own financial institutions not to deal with banks in the listed countries. The OECD talks about the suspension of double tax treaties, but on the whole the listed countries don't have any, since they don't have income taxes.

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