Netherlands Antilles asks to be removed from EC Tax Blacklists
On August 11, 2008, the State Secretary of Finance for the Netherlands Antilles, Alex Rosaria, asked the Tax Directorate of the European Commission to take the jurisdiction off tax haven blacklists in some European states.
He said that the Netherlands Antilles is offering a leading edge financial service industry with supervision that is in line with international standards of protecting the customer.
Mr. Rosaria noted that the Netherlands Antilles is an active and a complying member of various international organizations including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), the OECD, and the Egmont Group.
The OECD has recognized the Netherlands Antilles as a co-operative jurisdiction. In April 2008, the seal of approval was given to the Netherlands Antilles by the Egmont Group. In its most recent Article IV Consultation, the International Monetary Fund made a conclusion that “the financial sector of the Netherlands Antilles is broadly healthy”.
Also, according to Mr Rosaria, any reference to the Netherlands Antilles being a tax haven is misguided, contradictory and unjust as far as it it were a tax haven Spain would not have signed a Tax Information Exchange Treaty with it in June 2008.