On February 14, 2023, EU Member States reached an agreement to update the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. The latest update consists of 16 jurisdictions that lack commitment to improving their tax good governance or have made no progress towards their previous commitments, and are therefore included in Annex I of the EU list. These countries include American Samoa, Anguilla, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.
On the other hand, 18 jurisdictions have made it to Annex II because of the commitments they have taken to improve their tax good governance. The EU will closely monitor these commitments to ensure they are followed up on. The EU process evaluates jurisdictions against three main criteria, namely tax transparency, fair taxation, and their implementation of BEPS minimum standards. Jurisdictions that fail to meet any of these criteria are requested to address the deficiencies within a set deadline, and if they fail to do so, they are included in Annex I.
Thanks to the EU listing process, many countries have taken measures to comply with tax good governance standards, and over 140 harmful regimes have been eliminated worldwide since 2017. The Commission will continue to work with Member States to improve the process by reviewing the criteria of the listing process, as well as the consequences for listed countries. The Finance ministers at their meeting in Brussels made the decision to update the list. The EU is making ongoing efforts to improve the process in the relevant EU fora.