On Thursday 15 February, the Council of the EU published its guidelines to monitor the implementation of the fiscal commitments made by the countries that managed to avoid the blacklist of non-cooperative jurisdictions.
In the first phase, which will run until 9 March of this year, the jurisdictions that made commitments will be invited to submit a precise timeline and description of the steps for the implementation of these commitments to the Council of the EU's Code of Conduct group on corporate taxation.
In due time before each of these steps, the jurisdictions will have to send in information about each of these steps during the second phase, including, where relevant, an English translation of the draft legislation as presented to their national parliaments, so that the Code of Conduct group can analyse them and give an opinion. Finally, in the third phase, the countries will have to send an English translation of the final measures as adopted, by an agreed deadline.
Technical assistance may be available to the countries concerned through the Commission's services, the guidelines state. If necessary, they may also hold exchanges with the Code of Conduct group. Progress reports will be submitted to the Ecofin Council at the end of each semester. In early 2019, the Code of Conduct group will assess the implementation of the commitments. Finally, the document states that day-to-day interactions between the jurisdictions and the EU will be channelled through the Commission's services, other than for political questions, in which case, exchanges will be carried out with the presidency of the Code of Conduct group. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)