The European Council at the ECOFIN meeting on 23 January 2018 has decided that eight jurisdictions should be removed from the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (the so-called black list) which was approved by the European Council on 5 December 2017. This implements

a recommendation from the Code of Conduct Group, which is responsible for assessing the commitments made by jurisdictions to reform their tax systems and incorporate Council’s recommendations into their domestic tax laws. The eight countries are Barbados, Grenada, the Republic of Korea, Macao, Mongolia, Panama, Tunisia and the UAE, which are now included on the supplementary list (the grey list). Some Members of the European Parliament and campaigning organisations have criticised the action as undermining the black list, particularly with regard to Panama, but Vladislav Goranov, Minister for Finance of Bulgaria, which currently holds the Council presidency, observed that the blacklist process is proving its worth as an effective means to persuade countries to reform their tax policies. For further information, please contact Paul Hale or Anvit Jain.