EU creates blacklist of 17 'tax haven' countries

Finance ministers from across the EU agreed the list in Brussels

The European Union has released a blacklist of 17 countries which it says are tax havens, after 10 months of investigations by officials.

After a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday EU finance ministers said American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates are not doing enough to crack down on offshore avoidance schemes.

Crucially for the UK, the main list excludes a number of British Overseas Territories such as the Cayman Island and Bermuda that were on a previous EU blacklist from June 2015. Complaints about the methodology of that last list saw it scrapped and replaced with the new register.

The lack of well-established tax havens from the list, however, led some MEPs and anti-tax avoidance campaigns to brand it a “whitewash”.

The new list was drafted by the European Council’s Code of Conduct (COC), a group comprised of finance ministers from EU member states, including the UK. Countries’ inclusion is based on whether a state gives preferential treatment to companies enabling them to move profits to avoid charges.

Another 47 countries have also been included in a “grey” list of countries not compliant with EU tax standards but who have committed to change their rules. These countries will have to adopt EU rules by the end of 2018, or 2019 for developing countries, to avoid being included in the main list.

“This initiative is already proving its value, as numerous countries have worked to meet the deadline for making commitments on the basis of our criteria”, said Toomas Tõniste, minister for finance of Estonia, which currently holds the European Council presidency.

“But it is also important that we closely monitor the implementation of commitments made by our partners around the world.”

“This is not just a one-off process. We will regularly review and update the list in the years to come. Our aim is to ensure that good tax governance becomes the new norm.”

“We have adopted at EU level a list of states which are not doing enough to fight tax evasion,” French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said.

Pierre Moscovici, commissioner for economic and financial affairs, taxation and customs, said: “The adoption of the first ever EU blacklist of tax havens marks a key victory for transparency and fairness.

“But the process does not stop here. We must intensify the pressure on listed countries to change their ways.

“Blacklisted jurisdictions must face consequences in the form of dissuasive sanctions, while those that have made commitments must follow up on them quickly and credibly. There must be no naivety: promises must be turned into actions. No one must get a free pass.”

Both the Cayman Islands (pictured) and the British Virgin Islands are British Overseas Territories are excluded from the main list (GETTY)

Members of the European Parliament and campaigners however criticised the absence of certain countries from the list.

“It undermines the EU’s credibility that Member States were only able to agree on a whitewashed blacklist of tax havens,” said Sven Giegold, economics spokesperson for the Green group.

“Not one of the most important tax havens has been put on the list. The list is politically biased as relevant financial centers like the United States of America are missing.”

“Rather than have a list of tax havens based on an objective set of criteria, as originally envisaged, the list appears to be a political fix with EU members picking their least favourite countries to name and shame,” said Alex Cobham, chief executive of the Tax Justice Network.

“The result of the flawed blacklisting process is a politically led list, that includes only the economically weak and politically unconnected.

“While EU members like the Netherlands, Ireland and Luxembourg are the greatest procurers of global profit shifting but are excluded; and while the UK has sought to frustrate the blacklisting of its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories at every turn, the list is hard to take seriously.”

The announcement comes less than a month after the publication of the Paradise Papers, a global leak containing information about individuals and companies holding offshore finances.

Mr Moscovici had called for countries to “rapidly adopt a European tax haven list” in light of the Panama Papers revelations, as well as arguing that such a list should be enforced with “credible and meaningful” sanctions.

Potential sanctions that could be enforced on members of the list are expected to be agreed in the coming weeks.

A spokesperson for HM Treasury said: “Today’s publication marks an important step in our ongoing efforts to tackle tax avoidance and evasion internationally.

“This is clearly working, as over 40 jurisdictions have made significant commitments to reform as part of this process. For those that are on today’s list, we hope that this increased scrutiny and the potential for counter-measures will lead them to re-consider their approach.”