16/10/2017 (Agence Europe) – On Monday 16 October, the OECD published a progress report on dismantling harmful tax regimes, identified in its action plan to fight aggressive tax planning (BEPS). Of the 164 regimes assessed by the OECD, 99 require action, the organisation writes. This is the case with the French patent box, its intellectual property-friendly regime, which the OECD described as "harmful". In mid July, a report by the services of the European Commission already showed that France did not meet any of the criteria to apply this regime in compliance with the international fiscal rules (see EUROPE 11848). Pressure has been mounting on France since at least June 2016 (see EUROPE 11658 and 11709). Paris argues that its regime is not harmful, due to its high tax rate (15%) (see EUROPE 11568). (EL)