Finance Minister Paula Cox told MPs that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's process of rating countries by tax transparency progress was "hijacked by the G20 for its own purposes".

On April 2, the Group of 20 leaders of the world's major economies met at a summit in London where they pledged to clamp down on tax havens. Later on the same day, the OECD published a progress report which "grey listed" Bermuda as a jurisdiction that had committed to international tax transparency standards but had not yet implemented them.

The standard for making the "white list" was 12 signed tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs).

United Bermuda Party finance spokesman Bob Richards last week criticised Ms Cox for failing to have the 12 TIEAs in place by April 2 in an opinion piece published by The Royal Gazette.

"With respect to recent reports circulating in the public with regard to the date of April 2, 2009, it should be noted that this was not a deadline for TIEAs but simply a meeting date for the G20," Ms Cox said in the House of Assembly last Friday.

"Bermuda and many other participating partners in the OECD Global Forum are progressing work on TIEAs with OECD member countries at an even pace.

"I think it's critical to note that the OECD has yet to ratify a standard that will set the threshold for substantive progress as it relates to international cooperation in tax matters." The Deputy Premier added that a subcommittee of the OECD's Global Forum had met in London on October 1-2, 2008 and had recommended that for purposes of information exchange the OECD standard be "at least 12 OECD countries" and that the draft report would ultimately be reviewed and considered by Global Forum in late 2009.

"So essentially what we have is a process that was hijacked by the G20 for its own purposes on April 2, 2009," Ms Cox said.

"On April 2 the G20 took the proposed and unratified OECD standard of 12 TIEAs with OECD members and changed it to 12 TIEAs with any country.

"This G20 'amendment' of the OECD standard allowed Jersey and Guernsey to slide under the wire."

The two Channel Islands, which are British Crown Dependencies, both made it onto the "white list".

Financial Secretary Donald Scott wrote to the OECD, saying it appeared that some jurisdictions "were preferentially treated and/or protected".

She added that Bermuda had been working diligently since 2000 to negotiate and agree TIEAs with the Island's major trading and commercial partners on a basis that provides mutual benefit.

"The Opposition would have Honourable Members believe that a magic button may be pressed to conclude a TIEA in short order," Ms Cox said. That was "nonsense", she said, adding that the US took some 12 years to finalise a tax treaty with Canada and four to five years to agree a TIEA with Brazil.

"The point is that negotiations over important matters that affect the national interests of both parties to an agreement can take a long while to conclude," she added. "In that regard, Bermuda has done extremely well with its lean resources. Excluding the one TIEA with the US that the United Bermuda Party achieved in its 30 years, the Ministry of Finance under the Progressive Labour Party Government has concluded 14 TIEAs in a 10-year period."

The Island has concluded agreements with Australia, the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, New Zealand, Netherlands, Germany, Mexico and Canada.

And Ms Cox said the Ministry of Finance was in TIEA discussions with Japan and Spain and earlier this month was invited to start negotiations with France.

The Minister also revealed the US Council for International Business (USCIB) is interested in working with Bermuda going forward.

"A representative has confirmed that they will liaise with the US administration to fashion policies and solutions in a thoughtful and consistent manner that does not interrupt international commerce," she said.