Monday 18 July 2016
Guernsey has been removed from Bulgaria's 'black list'.
The Republic of Bulgaria's Minister of Finance has written to Policy & Resources Committee President Gavin St Pier to confirm Guernsey's removal from the country's recently revised list of jurisdictions with preferential tax regimes.
This positive development is a direct result of Guernsey's commitment to new tax transparency initiatives and its ongoing engagement with the Bulgarian authorities. This further highlights the island's commitment to ensuring it has robust tax information exchange arrangements in place.
Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq, Policy & Resources Committee member with responsibility for external relations, said:
"The removal of Guernsey from Bulgaria's so-called black list demonstrates that EU Member States recognise that transparency is about actively committing to, and meeting, international standards and are willing to revise their assessment of Guernsey in light of these developments.
"The key to our relationship with Bulgaria is the mutually beneficial arrangements in place. This is reflected in the relationships and agreements we have with other countries also."
Deputy Le Tocq said that while Guernsey remained on lists for Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal and Spain, work was progressing to seek the island's removal from each, if possible.
"We are continuing to proactively engage with those six other Member States. It must be noted our inclusion on those countries' lists are for varying reasons, all of which are technical in nature, and not due to a standard set of criteria, making this a complex task."
