British territory blacklisted from EU tax havens

Yachts, many of which are registered in the Cayman Islands, moored at the quay near the entrance to the Venice Biennale, May 7, 2019. Philip Kennicott / The Washington Post via Getty Images

Text by: RFI Follow

The European Union has added a British overseas territory, the Cayman Islands, to its blacklist of tax havens, three weeks after the departure of the United Kingdom, European Economy Ministers announced on Tuesday.

Publicity

Read more

" The Cayman Islands have not put in place appropriate measures" in "the area of ​​collective investment instruments ", explain the ministers in the conclusions of a meeting held in Brussels.

It is the first territory of a member state or ex-EU member state to join this list, drawn up for the first time in late 2017.

With the addition, also on Tuesday, of Panama, Seychelles and Palau, the list now has twelve jurisdictions. American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Oman, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu were already present.

The Cayman Islands, which had previously been on the EU's "gray" list, had until the end of 2019 to implement the reforms they had committed to, which has not been done.

A 'warning issued in the UK'

Despite the timing - the United Kingdom left the EU on February 1 - the ministers, as well as the Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, are careful not to establish a link with Brexit.

But German MEP Markus Ferber (EPP, right) sees it as a " warning issued in the United Kingdom ", at a time when Europeans fear it will turn " into a tax haven off the European coast ".

The NGO Oxfam also regrets in a press release that the Bahamas, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands - these last two jurisdictions being territories of the United Kingdom - have not joined the blacklist even though they have been identified as " some of the most harmful tax havens in the world ".

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

subscribe

Download the app

google-play-badge_FR

  • European Union
  • UK
  • tax system

On the same subject

EU adds four new countries to blacklist of tax havens

Switzerland / EU

EU removes Switzerland from "gray" list of tax havens

European Union

Tax benefits: European justice whitewashes Starbucks but condemns Fiat