It is no small victory, in the view of the European Union. On Tuesday 5 December, its finance ministers agreed on the first blacklist of 17 jurisdictions outside the EU that are non-cooperative in taxation matters.
These 17 third countries come under fire because they have made no commitments, or insufficient commitments. Three of them are reported to have sent letters over the night of Monday to Tuesday, but unsuccessfully at this stage. However, their commitments will be evaluated and they may end up being taken off the list. 47 other third countries have been put on a watch list. They have made commitments that are deemed sufficient, but the EU intends to monitor their implementation closely.
The final days before the meeting of Ecofin saw a veritable race to meet targets. 29 countries were still in the hots eat on Monday morning, but several sources put this number at 27. On Monday evening, following the meeting of the tax attachés of the member states, there were 19 countries still at risk, two of which - Morocco and Cape Verde - were placed in brackets. The commitments of these two countries were drawn up in French and Portuguese respectively, and there was no consensus between the experts of the member states as to how to interpret them.
At the meeting behind closed doors of the Ecofin Council, the fate of Morocco and Cape Verde was not discussed, but they were ultimately crossed off the list. The 17 countries that remained on it are: Bahrain, Guam, Granada, South Korea, Macau, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Panama and Barbados.
The 47 jurisdictions on the watch list are categorised on the basis of the commitments made. The following countries have pledged in favour of increased transparency: Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Cape Verde, Hong Kong, Curaçao, Fiji, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Jamaica, Georgia, Maldives, Montenegro, Morocco, New Caledonia, Oman, Peru, Qatar, Serbia, Swaziland, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam.
The countries that have undertaken to ensure fairer taxation are: Andorra, Armenia, Aruba, Belize, Botswana, Cape Verde, the Cook Islands, Curaçao, Fiji, Hong Kong, Jordan, the Federal Territory of Labuan (Malaysia), Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Morocco, Niue, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Seychelles, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay and Vietnam.
Those that have pledged to introduce economic substance requirements alongside their zero-tax rate are: Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Vanuatu.
Finally, those that have promised to implement the OECD measures to fight aggressive tax optimisation are: Albania, Armenia, Aruba, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cape Verde, the Cook Islands, the Faroe Islands, Fiji, FYROM, Greenland, Jordan, Maldives, Montenegro, Morocco, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Serbia, Swaziland, Taiwan and Vanuatu.
Eight countries that were recently hit by hurricanes have until spring to respond to the EU’s concerns: Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the American Virgin Islands.
Sanctions
The Vice-President of the Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, told the press that he would rather have seen tougher defensive measures against the jurisdictions in breach. On behalf of the Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Estonian minister, Toomas Toniste, said that being included on the list is a countermeasure in itself. As well as tougher European financing conditions (particularly those concerning the EIB), member states are called upon to apply at least one of the following administrative measures: - reinforced monitoring of certain transactions; - increased audit risks for taxpayers benefiting from the regimes at stake and; - increased audit risks for taxpayers using structures or arrangements involving these jurisdictions.
The European countries remain free to apply the legislative measures, such as the non-deductibility of certain costs, rules on controlled foreign companies, withholding tax, etc.
The NGOs were generally critical of the results of the work, arguing that the blacklist disregards certain well-known tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and even Jersey and Guernsey, as ActionAid pointed out. Others criticise the fact that there are no EU countries on it. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)