On December 5, 2017 during the meeting in Brussels the Finance Ministers of EU Member States agreed the first EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.
Thus, 17 following countries have been listed for failing to meet tax good governance standards:
American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macao SAR, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates.
Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, said: "The adoption of the first ever EU blacklist of tax havens marks a key victory for transparency and fairness. But the process does not stop here. We must intensify the pressure on listed countries to change their ways. Blacklisted jurisdictions must face consequences in the form of dissuasive sanctions, while those that have made commitments must follow up on them quickly and credibly. There must be no naivety: promises must be turned into actions. No one must get a free pass."
The idea of this list was proposed by the Commission and afterwards taken forward by Member States. Many of the EU's international partners actively participated in completion of the list.
The list will be reviewed at least once a year and any of countries can be removed from the list once it has made commitments to improve their tax systems according to recommendations of EU Commission.
