Cayman Islands Deputy Premier Rolston Anglin commented in Rio de Janeiro in an interview that the Cayman islands were due to sign tax information accord with Brazil tomorrow (19).

This Accord was the “first step in talks with Brazil,” Anglin said. “The Cayman Islands won’t issue debt for four years.”

The purpose of this Accord is to promote international co-operation in tax matters through exchange of information.  It was developed by the OECD Global Forum Working Group on Effective Exchange of Information (“the Working Group”).

The Working Group consisted of representatives from OECD Member countries as well as delegates from Aruba, Bermuda, Bahrain, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Isle of Man, Malta, Mauritius, the Netherlands Antilles, the Seychelles and San Marino.

The Accord or Agreement grew out of the work undertaken by the OECD to address harmful tax practices.

The lack of effective exchange of information is one of the key criteria in determining harmful tax practices. The mandate of the Working Group was to develop a legal instrument that could be used to establish effective exchange of information.

The Agreement represents the standard of effective exchange of information for the purposes of the OECD’s initiative on harmful tax practices.

This Agreement, which was released in April 2002, is not a binding instrument but contains two models for bilateral agreements.  A number of bilateral agreements have been based on this Agreement.