Opposition leader Grant Gibbons has criticised Government for remaining tight-lipped about what commitments it made to the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development on tax issues, especially now that the OECD's standing has been undermined by several nations refusing to abide with exchange of information regulations.

Dr. Gibbons spoke out after members of the Finance Ministry attended an OECD meeting in Ottawa last week. He said Government had a responsibility to state where the Island stands on commitments it made to the OECD in 1999 - and whether those commitments are still binding now that several nations have refused to agree to certain disclosure of tax information.

The Paris-based OECD has been working with a number of overseas territories, including Bermuda, in recent years in regards to harmful tax issues. In 1999, Bermuda signed an annex to an earlier OECD report in which Government reportedly committed the Island to fulfilling certain requirements including greater sharing of information with other nations.

But with several OECD member countries refusing to agree to share confidential information about non-resident investors with foreign tax authorities, some overseas territories are crying foul. They claim it would be unfair to have to comply with such regulations when other nations are not. Critics of the policy have pointed out that without everyone being on board, there can be no "level playing field". As such, overseas territories that embrace greater disclosure about money invested in their countries will be at a disadvantage against the US, UK, Switzerland and Luxembourg who have said they will not comply.

In a press statement issued yesterday, the Finance Ministry said it had sent two representatives, financial secretary Donald Scott and assistant financial secretary Wayne Brown, to the October 14-15 meeting in Ottawa.

Although that release stated that "virtually all participants" from the 40 OECD and non-OECD governments that attended, "reaffirmed commitments to the principles underlying the exchange of information standard and acknowledged the need to continue their discussions to establish bi-lateral mechanisms for effective exchange of information," it did not shed any light on where Bermuda stands in terms of its commitments.

Dr. Gibbons yesterday said: "First of all, Government has an obligation to bring the country up to date on the meeting that was held in Ottawa last week and to give us a sense in terms of the commitments that have been made and the commitments going forward.

"It is outrageous and irresponsible that the community and the business sector has not been made aware of what was promised in the annex with a deadline (for complying) of 2004 or 2005," he said.

Dr. Gibbons added: "While most of the Overseas Territories have been responsible in trying to increase transparency and and anti-money laundering legislation, this is not against a level playing field. Other jurisdictions have said there should be a level playing field."

He continued: "We deserve to understand where Bermuda stands currently and what it is committed to. And does Government expect to continue to think Bermuda needs to stay committed now that other nations are not."

In yesterday's Press statement, Government gave a broad sense of where participants in the meeting stood, but did not speak to Bermuda specifically: "Participants (in Ottawa) acknowledged that progress had been made but recognised that a global level playing field does not yet exist and that further progress could and should be made to achieve it, so that all countries can reach the high standards which the participants wish to see achieved. In particular, they agreed that ways should be explored to involve significant financial centres that are not currently participating in the Global Forum process. An important part of the process would be to review what standards financial centres currently apply and where further progress might be required.

In conclusion, Government said: "Participants agreed to work intensively over the coming months to progress the global level playing field issue and the broader question of improving the process by which this work can be accomplished."

Several calls yesterday were left for financial secretary Donald Scott for further information and had not been returned by press time.