OECD's list of tax havens - June 2000

Andorra Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Bahrain Barbados Belize British Virgin Islands Cook Islands Dominica Gibraltar Grenada Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Liberia Liechtenstein Maldives Marshall Islands Monaco Montserrat Nauru Dutch Antilles Niue Panama Samoa Seychelles St Lucia St Kitts and Nevis St Vincent and the Grenadines Tonga Turks and Caicos US Virgin Islands Vanuatu

The OECD's worry is that criminals and tax evaders have been using the tight secrecy laws and loose regulatory regimes of offshore centres to cover financial dealings banned in their home countries.

Blacklisted countries were told that financial sanctions could be imposed if they failed to cooperate with initiatives to curb the problems by July this year.

This latest conference taking place in Barbados has given a forum for countries accused of being tax havens to vent their fury at the sanctions plan, which they say is unfair, has been imposed with out any form of consultation, and could seriously damage their already fragile economies.

The conference has been co-ordinated by the OECD and the Commonwealth Secretariat, which includes former British colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific with strong offshore financial services industries.

Countries accused of being tax havens hope the OECD will agree to shelve its plan to impose sanctions on blacklisted territories.

In return they will agree to participate in a new international forum charged with stamping out tax evasion and money laundering.

An announcement is expected when the two-day conference ends later on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the OECD said there was agreement on broad principles but procedures still had to be ironed out.