European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici recognised the strength of the Cayman Islands’ tax transparency regime, as well as our participation in the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting inclusive framework, during a meeting with Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton in Brussels.

‘This recognition demonstrates the effectiveness of the hard work of my Ministry’, Minister Panton said. ‘We are obviously pleased by the supportive comments made by Mr Moscovici, and indeed other members of his commission, including Mr Valere Moutarlier, who is the director general of the EC’s Taxation and Customs Union.

Mr Moscovici is the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs.

The meeting was prearranged as part of the Minister’s London / Brussels engagement, which began on 30 January. The meeting with Mr Moscovici took place on 2 February, and accompanying him were the Ministry’s Chief Officer Dr Dax Basdeo; and the directors of the Department for International Tax Cooperation and the Department of Financial Services Policy and Legislation, Duncan Nicol and Michelle Bahadur, respectively.

During the meeting, Mr Moscovici also spoke about the EU’s letters to 92 jurisdictions, sent on 1 February. The letters invite the jurisdictions to engage in discussions with a panel of experts from EU Member States, who will screen jurisdictions against several criteria related to tax good governance.

‘Mr Moscovici assured us that it would be a fair screening process,’ Minister Panton said. ‘He was clear that no jurisdiction is being prejudged to be included on a list of non-cooperative jurisdictions that is intended to be created by the end of this year.

‘This was an excellent opportunity to raise awareness and understanding of Cayman’s tax system, and to assure members of the EC that our indirect tax system is not designed to negatively impact other jurisdictions’.

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Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton, left, met Mr Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, who recognised the strength of the Cayman Islands’ tax transparency regime and our participation in the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting inclusive framework during a 2 February meeting in Brussels.