The European Council has removed Bermuda from Annex II of its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (sometimes referred to as the EU Tax Grey List).

While Annex I (the so-called EU Black List) is a list of countries that have failed to meet the EU's criteria, Annex II is a list of jurisdictions that have made sufficient commitments to reform their tax policies but remain subject to close monitoring while they are executing on their commitments.

The European Council said in a statement: “The commitment of Bermuda with regard to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Forum on Harmful Tax Practices' recommendations on the effective implementation of substance requirements was deemed fulfilled, resulting in the deletion of the reference to this jurisdiction in the state of play document.”