Cayman Islands removed from EU’s blacklist

The Cayman Islands have been “completely delisted” from the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes due to “having delivered on their pending commitments".

On 6 October, the EU adjusted its list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions removing the Cayman Islands and Oman, while Barbados was added to the blacklist and Anguilla moved from the grey list to the blacklist.

In addition, Seychelles’ entry in the list was updated to include concerns with tax transparency.

In February this year, the Cayman Islands were added to the EU’s blacklist as part of the European Council’s revised conclusions on the list.

At that time, the European Commission stated the Cayman Islands did not have “appropriate measures” in place relating to the economic substance in the area of collective investment vehicles.

In 2019, the Cayman Islands government introduced modernised legislation that enhanced the oversight of investment funds.

In a recent announcement, the Insurance Managers Association of Cayman (IMAC) noted that the island was added to the blacklist “because of a technical timing issue”.

IMAC explained that the Cayman Islands government, led by the Ministry of Financial Services, has worked to ensure that the islands have now met all the necessary changes in the regulatory framework to address the concerns reported in the EU council conclusions in March 2019.

how d Commenting on the islands being delisted, Colin Robinson, IMAC chair, said: “The move of the EU to remove Cayman from the blacklist is testament to Cayman’s continued commitment as a leading jurisdiction to adhere to international compliance standards and ongoing cooperation with international tax authorities.”