Guernsey 'blacklisted' by EU as a non-cooperative jurisdiction

Chief minister Jonathan Le Tocq and Commerce and Employment minister Kevin Stewart have condemned the report, published today, for using 'out-dated information' and mistakenly tying Guernsey with Sark.

The list consolidates national tax 'blacklists' as they stood six months ago and features any jurisdiction on 10 or more Member States' lists. But while Guernsey in itself is only on nine it has been included as Sark – for which it has no legal responsibility in tax matters – appears on another "black list".

'The Commission appears to have hurriedly put together a list of so-called 'non-cooperative' non-EU jurisdictions using some very arbitrary criteria,' said Deputy Le Tocq.

'It is this type of arbitrary and inconsistent use of "black lists" that international standards are supposed to be replacing, so this seems to me to run counter to what the Commission itself is trying to do on tax transparency. It also runs counter to Commissioner Moscovici's own positive views on Guernsey, which we discussed just over a month ago.'