From Caribbean Week, business section, updated Nov. 15 1998 (?)
================================================= Global initiatives present challenges to BVI BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS - Proposed initiatives created for "combating harmful preferential tax regimes" could present special challenges to offshore financial centres such as the BVI, Chief Minister, Ralph O'Neal has told the Legislative Council. While the BVI Government has been cooperative with the international community in its "ambitious attempts to create a new international standard," he said he welcomes the offer of the British Government to appoint a UK financed consultancy to ascertain the full implication the proposed initiatives will have on overseas territories. Initiatives arose from recommendations made by the Organisation of Economic Cooperative Development (OECD) as well as concerns expressed by the European Union, and the group of seven major industrialized countries, the G7. In September, a seminar was held to sensitise the overseas territories to the attitude of the international community, the UK Government's resolve to tackle harmful tax competition, and its commitment to work with the overseas territories to ensure that their concerns were factored into the ongoing dialogue on the harmful tax competition. Both the Director of Financial Services and the Financial Secretary represented the BVI. Of the concerns noted by the Chief Minister were OCED initiatives to counter the spread to tax havens and harmful preferential regimes, and the creation of an OECD list which classifies many countries including the BVI and other UK overseas territories as tax havens. He further noted "the fact that Luxembourg and Switzerland, both members of the OECD, could choose to abstain from adopting the report and from cooperating on the initiatives but still not appear in the OECD black list" is viewed by some persons as "proof of some hidden agenda by ... the industrialised world to reduce the attractiveness of offshore financial centres for legitimate cross-border business." "Our expectations of the new Labour Government are high. All we ask ... is to help us to help ourselves and to ensure that the competition for cross border financial services occurs on a level playing field," he added. A special public sector/private sector task force has been commissioned to brainstorm and develop the territory's response to the proposals. The Director of Financial Services is the chairman. Jean-Francois Avon, B.Sc. Physics, Montreal, Canada DePompadour, Société d'Importation Ltée Limoges fine porcelain and french crystal JFA Technologies, R&D physicists & engineers Instrumentation & control, LabView programming PGP keys: http://bs.mit.edu:8001/pks-toplev.html PGP ID:0xC58ADD0D:529645E8205A8A5E F87CC86FAEFEF891 PGP ID:0x5B51964D:152ACCBCD4A481B0 254011193237822C PGP ID:0x6CBA71F7:485888E9FD68415A2945 ACCB366D38486CBA71F7