* Akiko Hishikawa is the Senior Managing Editor of the Boston College International & Comparative Law Review.
1 Seiichi Kondo, Tax Evaders Are Not Like Robin Hood. They Take From All of Us and Don’t Give Any Back, The Guardian (London), Jan. 8, 2001, available at 2001 WL 2911782.
2 Id.
3 Id.
4 Id.
5 Id.
6 Kondo, supra note 1.
7 Id.
8 Nations Agree to Task Force on “Tax Havens,” N.Y. Times, Jan. 10, 2001, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/10/world.10HAVE.html.
9 Christopher Vogt, Commonwealth Countries and OECD Team Up to Fight Fiscal Corruption, Agence Fr. Presse, Jan. 10, 2001, available at 2001 WL 2317861.
10 Working Toward a Consensus, Int’l Money Marketing, Feb. 8, 2001, available at 2001 WL 13947445. Transparency involves adequate regulatory supervision or financial disclosure. Report to the 200 Ministerial Council Meeting and Recommendations by the Committee on Fiscal Affairs, Towards Global Tax Co-operation: Progress in Identifying and Eliminating Harmful Tax Practice (2000), at http://www.oecd.org/daf/fa/harm_tax/Report_En.pdf (last visited Mar. 1, 2002) [hereinafter The 2000 Report].
11 Commonwealth and OECD Fail to Agree on Anti-Tax Evasion Campaign, Agence Fr. Presse, Jan. 28, 2001, available at 2001 WL 2331102.
12 Id.
13 Id.
14 See OECD, The OECD’s Project on Harmful Tax Practices: The 2001 Progress Report (2001), at http://www.oecd.org/oecd/pages/home/displaygeneral/0,3380,EN-home-22-nodirectorate-no-no-22,ff.html (last visited May 31, 2001) [hereinafter The 2001 Report].
15 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, at 2.
16 See generally Jeffrey Owens, Promoting Fair Tax Competition (2000), at http://www.oecd. org/daf/fa/harm_tax/PromotingFairTaxComp.pdf (last visited Mar. 1, 2002) [hereinafter Owens, Promoting Fair Tax Competition].
17 Id.
18 Id.
19 Id. Ring-fencing is where a “jurisdiction facilitates the establishment of foreign owned entities without the need for a local substantive presence or prohibits these entities from having any commercial impact on the local economy.” The 2000 Report, supra note 10, at 10 n.4.
20 The 2001 Report, supra note 14, ¶ 3.
21 Jeffrey Owens, Towards World Tax Co-operation, OECD Observer, Oct. 19, 2000, available at http://www.oecdobserver.org [hereinafter Owens, Towards World Tax Co-operation].
22 Id.
23 Vogt, supra note 9.
24 Owens, Promoting Fair Tax Competition, supra note 16.
25 Id.
26 Id.
27 Id.
28 Id.
29 Owens, Promoting Fair Tax Competition, supra note 16.
30 Id.
31 Id.
32 Id.
33 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, at 5, 8.
34 Id. at 5.
35 Id.
36 Id.
37 Id.
38 See The 2000 Report, supra note 10, at 5; David E. Spencer, OECD Report Cracks Down on Harmful Tax Competition, 9 J. Int’l Tax’n 26, 28 (1998).
39 Spencer, supra note 38, at 26.
40 Id.
41 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, at 9.
42 Id.
43 Id.
44 Id. at 9 n.3.
45 Id. at 9–10.
46 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, at 10.
47 Id. at 9 n.4.
48 Id. at 10.
49 Spencer, supra note 38, at 28.
50 Id.
51 Id.
52 Id.
53 Id.
54 Spencer, supra note 38, at 28.
55 OECD Agrees to Series of Steps to Increase International Tax Enforcement, 14 Int’l Enforcement L. Rep. 1 (1998).
56 Id.
57 Id.
58 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, at 5, 8; OECD, Harmful Tax Practices, at http:// www.oecd.org/daf/fa/harm_tax/harmtax.htm (last visited Jan. 23, 2002).
59 Id. at 6.
60 Id. at 7.
61 Id.
62 Id. at 12 n.6.
63 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, ¶ 13.
64 Id.
65 Id. ¶ 15.
66 Id.
67 Id.
68 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, ¶ 15.
69 Id.
70 Id.
71 Id. ¶ 17. The OECD identified the following countries as tax havens: Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cook Islands, The Commonwealth of Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey/Sark/Alderney, Isle of Man, Jersey, Liberia, The Principality of Liechtenstein, The Republic of the Maldives, The Republic of the Marshall Islands, The Principality of Monaco, Montserrat, The Republic of Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, Niue, Panama, Samoa, The Republic of the Seychelles, St. Lucia, The Federation of St. Christopher & Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tonga, Turks & Caicos, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Republic of Vanuatu. Id.
72 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, at 17. On June 19, 2000, the OECD announce that six jurisdictions—Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Malta, Mauritius, and San Marino—had made advanced commitments to eliminate harmful tax practices by the end of 2005. In the first half of 2001, the Isle of Man, Netherlands Antilles, and Seychelles also made advance commitments. For a report of such progress, see OECD, Advance Commitment Letters, at http://www.oecd.org/daf/fa/harm_tax/advcom.html (last updated Mar. 9, 2001) [hereinafter Advance Commitment Letters]. In July and September of 2001, two additional countries, Aruba and Bahrain, announced their commitment to eliminate harmful tax practices by December, 2005. For the 2001 additions, see OECD, Aruba Commits to Co-operate with OECD on Eliminating Harmful Tax Practices (July 3, 2001), available at http://www. oecd.org/oecd/pages/home/displaygeneral/0,3880,EN-document-103-nodirectorate-no–12–3969–22.FF.htm [hereinafter Aruba Commitment Letter]; OECD, Bahrain Commits to Co-operate with OECD on Eliminating Harmful Tax Practices (Sept. 11, 2001), available at http://www.oecd.org/oecd/pages/home/displaygeneral/0,3880,EN-document-103-nodirectorate-no-12–3969–22,FF.htm [hereinafter Bahrain Commitment Letter].
73 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, ¶ 19.
74 Id. ¶ 20.
75 Id. ¶ 21.
76 Id.
77 Id. ¶ 22.
78 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, ¶ 26.
79 Id. ¶ 27.
80 Id.
81 Id. ¶ 28.
82 Id.
83 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, ¶ 29.
84 Id. ¶ 30.
85 Id.
86 Id. ¶ 33.
87 Id.
88 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, ¶ 33.
89 Id. ¶ 34.
90 Id. ¶ 35.
91 Id. at 30.
92 Id.
93 The 2000 Report, supra note 10, at 30.
94 Id.
95 For more details on the MOU, see OECD News Release (Nov. 24, 2000), at http://www.oecd.org/media/release/nw00–123a.htm.
96 Id.
97 This procedure is described by Letter from the Co-Chairs of the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices, to the jurisdictions identified in their Report (Nov. 20, 2000), available at http://www.oecd.org/media/MOUletter20nov.pdf.
98 Id.
99 The commitment is elaborated by OECD, Framework for a Collective Memorandum of Understanding on Eliminating Harmful Tax Practices (Nov. 20, 2000), available at http://www. oecd.org/media/MOUrev20novRI.pdf [hereinafter MOU].
100 Id.
101 Id.
102 Id. at 2–3.
103 Id.
104 MOU, supra note 99, at 3–4.
105 Id. at 4.
106 Id.
107 Id. at 5.
108 Id.
109 Owens, Towards World Tax Co-operation, supra note 21.
110 Id.
111 Id.
112 Wesley Gibbings, Economy-Caribbean: Region Unites Behind Offshore Banks, Inter Press Service, June 9, 2000, available at 2000 WL 4091567.
113 Id.
114 Id.
115 Id.
116 Id.
117 Michael Field, Pacific Tax Havens Heading for International Showdown, Agence Fr. Presse, Feb. 13, 2001, available at 2001 WL 2341018 [hereinafter Field, Pacific Tax Havens Heading for International Showdown].
118 Id.
119 Id.
120 Caribbean Tax Havens in Spotlight, Caribbean Update, Feb. 1, 2001, available at 2001 WL 2126105.
121 Id.
122 Id.
123 Id.
124 Id.
125 Caribbean Tax Havens in Spotlight, supra note 120.
126 Id.
127 Bruce Zagaris, Consultations in Barbados on OECD Harmful Tax Competition Initiative Yield Progress, 17 Int’l Enforcement L. Rep. 1, 1 (2001).
128 Id. The task force includes the following countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands, France, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Vanuata. Id.
129 OECD News Release (Jan. 2, 2001), at http://www.oecd.org/media/release/nw01–01a.htm.
130 Zagaris, supra note 127, at 1.
131 Id.
132 Id.
133 Id.
134 Id.
135 Zagaris, supra note 127, at 1.
136 Id.
137 Id.
138 Id.
139 Id.
140 Zagaris, supra note 127, at 1.
141 Id.
142 Id.
143 Id.
144 Id.
145 Vogt, supra note 9.
146 Zagaris, supra note 127, at 1.
147 Id. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat consists of the Cook Islands, Federated State of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Id.
148 Id.
149 Id.
150 Zagaris, supra note 127, at 1.
151 Id.
152 Id.
153 Id.
154 Id.
155 Nations Agree to Task Force on “Tax Havens,” supra note 8.
156 Zagaris, supra note 127, at 1.
157 Id.
158 See Daniel J. Mitchell, OECD Wants Tax Havens to Tell All, Wall St. J., Jan. 22, 2001, at 10, available at 2001 WL-WSJE 2841121.
159 Id.
160 Id.
161 Id.
162 Id.
163 Mitchell, supra note 158.
164 Id.
165 Id.
166 Id.
167 Id.
168 OECD Tax Haven Summit Opens with Accusations of Bad Faith, AFX News, Jan. 26, 2001, available at 2001 WL 10282955.
169 Agreement Elusive Between OECD and Offshore Centres, Int’l Money Marketing, Feb. 8, 2001, available at 2001 WL 13947400.
170 These objectives are set forth in OECD News Release (Jan. 26, 2001), at http:// www.oecd.org/media/release/nw01–09a.htm.
171 See OECD Tax Haven Summit Opens with Accusations of Bad Faith, supra note 168.
172 Id.
173 Id.
174 Id.
175 Id.
176 OECD Tax Haven Summit Opens with Accusations of Bad Faith, supra note 168.
177 Agreement Elusive Between OECD and Offshore Centres, supra note 169.
178 Commonwealth and OECD Fail to Agree on Anti-Tax Evasion Campaign, supra note 11.
179 Id.
180 See Agreement Elusive Between OECD and Offshore Centres, supra note 169.
181 Commonwealth and OECD Fail to Agree on Anti-Tax Evasion Campaign, supra note 11.
182 OECD News Release (Feb. 9, 2001), at http://www.oecd.org/media/release/nw01–14a.htm.
183 Id.
184 Id. Those present for the conference were Australia, Canada, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, Japan, Korea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, and Vanuatu. OECD News Release (Feb. 16, 2001), at http:// www.oecd.org/media/release/tokyotaxfinal.htm.
185 Field, Pacific Tax Havens Heading for International Showdown, supra note 117.
186 Id.
187 Id.
188 Michael Field, Pacific Nations Call for Withdrawal of Deadline Against Tax Havens, Agence Fr. Presse, Feb. 19, 2001, available at 2001 WL 2344899 [hereinafter Field, Pacific Nations Call for Withdrawal of Deadline Against Tax Havens].
189 See Id.
190 Id.
191 Id.
192 Such methods are set forth in OECD News Release (Feb. 16, 2001), at http:// www.oecd.org/media/release/tokyotaxfinal.htm.
193 Id.
194 OECD Tax Haven Talks Discuss Fresh Proposals, But July Deadline Remains, AFX News, Mar. 7, 2001, available at 2001 WL 15582379.
195 Julio Godoy, Economy: Off-Shore Bankers Continue to Resist OECD Pressure, Inter Press Serv., Mar. 4, 2001, available at 2001 WL 4802950.
196 OECD Tax Haven Talks Discuss Fresh Proposals, But July Deadline Remains, supra note 194.
197 OECD, Commonwealth Fail to Agree on Tax Havens, AFX News, Mar. 4, 2001, available at 2001 WL 14640759.
198 Mark Atkinson, OECD Accused of Tyranny: Caribbean Leader Alleges Double Standards at Tax Havens Talks, The Guardian (London), Mar. 3, 2001, available at 2001 WL 14955197.
199 OECD Tax Haven Talks Discuss Fresh Proposals, But July Deadline Remains, supra note 194.
200 Atkinson, supra note 198.
201 Id.
202 Godoy, supra note 195.
203 Id.
204 Id.
205 See OECD, Commonwealth Fail to Agree on Tax Havens, supra note 197.
206 Id.
207 Id.
208 Advance Commitment Letters, supra note 72.
209 Id.
210 Id.
211 Id.
212 Aruba Commitment Letter, supra note 72; Bahrain Commitment Letter, supra note 72.
213 Nations, Agency to Work on Havens, AP Online, Feb. 20, 2002, available at 2002 WL 13778836.
214 OECD Statement on “Harmful Tax Practices,” PacNews Dig., Feb. 1, 2002, available at 2002 WL 3322044.
215 OECD Tax Haven Talks Discuss Fresh Proposals, But July Deadline Remains, supra note 194; U.S. Ambivalence Grows Towards OECD Initiative, Private Banker Int’l, May 14, 2001, available at 2001 WL 13301052.
216 Richard M. Hammer & Jeffrey Owens, Promoting Tax Competition, OECD Online, at http://www.oecd.org/daf/fa/first_en.htm (last visited Mar. 12, 2001).
217 Paul O’Neil, Confronting the OECD’s ‘Harmful’ Tax Approach, Wash. Times, May 11, 2001, at A17, available at 2001 WL 4152992.
218 Id.
219 Id.
220 Id.
221 U.S. Ambivalence Grows Towards OECD Initiative, supra note 215.
222 Id.
223 Id.
224 Michael Peel, OECD May Have Deal to Fight Tax Evasion, Fin. Times, June 28, 2001, available at 2001 WL 24309558.
225Daniel J. Mitchell, The OECD Pulls a Bait-and-Switch on the U.S. Treasury, Wall St. J. Eur., July 11, 2001, at 7, available at 2001 WL-WSJE 21832801; Michael M. Phillips, OECD Reaches Pact on Tax Havens, Wall St. J. Eur., June 29, 2001, at 3, available at 2001 WL-WSJE 21832014.
226 Peel, supra note 224.
227 The 2001 Report, supra note 14, ¶¶ 23–35; Peel, supra note 224; Phillips, supra note 225.
228 The 2001 Report, supra note 14, ¶¶ 23–35.
229 Id. ¶ 32; Peel, supra note 224; Phillips, supra note 225.
230 The 2001 Report, supra note 14, ¶¶ 32, 48.
231 Paul O’Neill, Congressional Testimony on Efforts to Eliminate Tax Havens (July 18, 2001), available at 2001 WL 21757353.
232 The 2001 Report, supra note 14, ¶¶ 48–49.
233 Id. ¶¶ 27–30.
234 Id. ¶ 33.
235 Id. ¶ 34.
236 OECD Sets February Compliance Deadline for “Tax Havens,” Int’l Money Marketing, Dec. 6, 2001, available at 2001 WL 13948015.
237 Id.
238 Id.
239 Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Pledge Tax Cooperation With OECD, Agence Fr.-Presse, Feb. 27, 2002, available at 2002 WL 2350096; Islands, State Try to Escape Stigma of OECD Tax-Haven List, Agence Fr.-Presse, Feb. 27, 2002, available at 2002 WL 2350174.
240 Islands, State Try to Escape Stigma of OECD Tax-Haven List, supra note 239.
241 OECD Will Take Two Channel Islands Off Tax-Haven List, Wall St. J. Europe, Feb. 28, 2002, available at 2002 WL-WSJE 3355769.
242 Canute James & Michael Peel, Barbados Deal Under Fire From Tax Havens, Fin. Times, Mar. 5, 2002, available at 2002 WL 13656396.
243 Islands, State Try to Escape Stigma of OECD Tax-Haven List, supra note 239.
244 Id.
245 Id.
246 Id.
247 We Will Not Comply, Vanuatu Tells OECD, Pac. Islands Broad. Assoc. News. Serv., Feb. 26, 2002, available at 2002 WL 332240.
248 Australia Calls for OECD Leniency for Pacific Tax Offenders, Agence Fr.-Presse, Mar. 1, 2002, available at 2002 WL 2351617.
249 Id.
250 Id.
251 Id.