Jersey is 'très bien' say French

Thursday 23 January 2014

The threat of sanctions for French businesses in Jersey has gone following the Island's removal from a tax haven blacklist.

Although the move was announced last month, the formal order confirming Jersey’s status as “largely compliant” with international information exchange standards has only been made. The move by French Economy and Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici has been welcomed by Jersey’s Foreign Minister Sir Philip Bailhache. French politicians designated Jersey as “non-compliant” in August over processes for sharing financial information with the French tax authorities, and were prepared to impose sanctions on companies doing business here from 1 January.

A last-minute political deal was reached after changes were made over appeal procedures and the resolution of outstanding requests, heading off the threat of legal action by the Jersey authorities.

Senator Bailhache said: “We have always seen ourselves as a cooperative jurisdiction, a view shared by the organisations responsible for setting international standards.

“We remain committed to a collaborative exchange of tax information under specific agreements and will continue to work alongside France in the framework of the OECD and other institutions in the development and implementation of new international standards.”

He added that since August, Jersey had demonstrated to the French authorities that the Island is fully committed to cooperative exchange of information under Tax Information Exchange Agreements including and agreement between Jersey and France.

The reclassification move by the French Minister was criticised by the head of the French parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, but the new “largely compliant” status puts Jersey in the same bracket as the UK, USA and Germany.