The list of 35 exotic places published yesterday reads like a selection of vacation getaways. Yet it is a compilation of tax havens.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said that the tax havens would be given 12 months to decide whether they want to work with the organisation to eliminate the "harmful features of their regimes'' by the end of 2005 -- or face sanctions.

As promised Bermuda was left off the OECD list, which was officially released yesterday in their report, Towards Global Tax Co-operation.

The OECD agreed last week not to include on the list countries that signed a letter of commitment to meet their standards by 2005. Bermuda was among six jurisdictions that made the advance commitment.

A total of 35 countries appeared in the report. But an OECD spokesman promised no sanctions would be taken against those listed for at least a year.

Chairman of the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs, Gabriel Makhlouf said the organisation felt that they needed to "develop new international guidance that will help them ensure that any regimes found to be actually harmful are modified to remove their harmful elements''.

"We will also be engaging in an intensive round of dialogue to ensure that, by April 2003, there are no harmful preferential tax regimes within the OECD area,'' He said.

Countries included on the blacklist are: Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Baharain, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, The Cook Islands, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey, Isle of Mann, Jersey, Liberia, Liechtenstein, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Monaco, Montserrat, Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, Niue, Panama, Samoa, the Seychelles, St. Lucia, St.

Christopher & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Tonga, Turks & Caicos, US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.

The Bermuda International Business Association (BIBA) said the position taken by the OECD "reinforces Bermuda's reputation as a responsible offshore financial centre''.

BIBA marketing manager Ross Webber said a member on the panel of OECD presenters singled Bermuda out as one of the world's most successful offshore financial centres and an example that it is possible to achieve a high level of transparency and success.

Bermuda off `hit list' "Bermuda is pleased and comfortably reassured that the OECD has acknowledged and validated our longstanding cooperation with international authorities,'' said BIBA chairman, Ray Medeiros.

Mr. Medeiros also pointed out that Bermuda already has an exchange of information agreement with the US and has recently agreed to adjust certain regulations to further that effort.

"If managed properly such an agreement does not compromise our business operations,'' he said.

"Ultimately, as we look to the future of the global economy, it will be those jurisdictions that adopt and maintain international standards that will be most highly regarded,'' he continued.

"These jurisdictions will by extension inspire confidence and continue to attract quality business, as we have experienced in Bermuda.''