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Namibia removed from EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions

Namibia removed from EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions

The Council of the European Union (EU) this week removed Namibia from the EU’s list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

As a result, the list is now down to five non-cooperative jurisdictions: American Samoa, Guam, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and the US Virgin Islands, whilst a total of 65 jurisdictions are now actively cooperating with the EU in implementing tax good governance standards.

In 2017, French Finance Minister Bruno le Maire announced the blacklisting, after Namibia failed to cooperate or deal effectively with tax-related matters and illicit financial flows.

The EU’s list helps to prevent tax avoidance by businesses and promote tax good governance worldwide and was established in December 2017.

Namibia has made sufficient commitments at a high political level to address EU concerns. As a result, it has been moved from annex I of the conclusions to annex II, which covers jurisdictions that cooperate with the EU to reform their tax policies. The implementation of Namibia’s commitments will be carefully monitored by the Council working group responsible for the listing process (‘code of conduct group’).

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, without discussion. The list is revised at least once a year, but the code of conduct group can recommend an update at any time. (Council of the European Union)


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