Under the Money Laundering Directive, the European Commission is required to present a "blacklist" of countries which have a right to launder money. Transactions from these countries are to be subject to stricter controls.
The European Commission's blacklist includes: Afghanistan, American Samoa, Bahamas, Botswana, North Korea. , Ethiopia, Ghana, Guam, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Virgin Islands, Yemen. It is now joined by the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Dominika.
The Union shall submit its comments to the countries on the list and, if they adapt the law as instructed, they shall disappear from the list. To date 60 countries have complied with EU requirements.
The inclusion of new jurisdictions was preceded by a sharp debate on the criteria for joining the list, namely tax transparency, good governance and real economic activity, and one indicator – the existence of a zero corporate tax rate.
In particular, Member States have protested, which themselves are considered as EU tax havens, including the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Cyprus, Malta, Ireland and Hungary, which cooperate with large companies, offering them significant tax incentives. Attention is also drawn to the problem of Germany, where cum-ex transactions are tolerated, based on fraud of unpaid VAT.
Some EU parliamentarians propose the creation of a special European tax dumping agency and practices conducive to money laundering. At this point, however, most Member States reject this proposal.
Author:
Katarzyna Kołbuś - Editor leading RB Magazine. From Over 10 years related to industry press, including the Financial Gazette and portal ipip.com.pl, which is devoted to finance, taxation, law, politics and the economy. She graduated from Polish philology at UMCS and the language editing of the text at the University of Warsaw