Brussels, 03/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - According to reports in the British press on Monday 1 February, the British government is alleged to have asked the European Commission to remove Bermuda from its consolidated list of non-cooperative third countries in taxation matters.
According to a note revealed by The Guardian, the UK allegedly told the Commission that the list was misleading and pointless. The United Kingdom also opposed the coordination by the Commission of the blacklists of the member states and counter-measures to be taken against these third countries.
According to a Commission spokesperson, the United Kingdom has no national blacklist and has expressed its views on this consolidated list.
The 30 non-cooperative jurisdictions were those mentioned by at least 10 member states. Initially, Bermuda was on the blacklists of 11 member states. In June 2015, Estonia completely withdrew its list and Bermuda was removed from the Latvian and Polish lists. Italy withdrew its list at the end of 2015, meaning the Bermuda was now only on the lists of seven member states, which explains why it has been removed from the Commission's consolidated list. Furthermore, the UK is reported to have raised more objections with the Commission regarding the presence of Jersey and Guernsey on the list than regarding that of Bermuda. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)