Following a meeting of the European Union’s (EU’s) Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) today (17 October 2023), the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has been removed from the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions (Annex I).

In a statement, the EU Council noted that the “British Virgin Islands  was removed from the list as it has amended its framework on exchange of information on request (criterion 1.2) and will be reassessed in accordance with the OECD standard.  Pending this reassessment this jurisdiction has been included in Annex II.”

This recognises the legislative changes (including BVI Business Companies Amendment Act 2022, and BVI Business Amendment Regulations 2022) made in 2022 and which came into force on 1 January 2023, to meet requirements set out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes as part of its Peer Review Process.  As such, the BVI has now been reinstated to the state of play document (Annex II) which includes jurisdictions committed to implementing reforms.

Commenting on the announcement, BVI Minister for Financial Services, Labour, and Trade, Honourable Lorna Smith, OBE said: “We welcome the announcement that the BVI has been removed from Annex I of the EU list, which reflects the current state of play in the BVI.  As a world-class international financial centre, the BVI is committed to maintaining the highest international standards on transparency and regulation.”