For the first time, there are signs that the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation & Development (OECD) is willing to discern between "good'' tax havens and "bad'' tax havens -- but, in a new move, the Paris-based organisation has said that it will ask members to carry out coordinated action against countries and territories on its final and definitive list of tax havens, now due some time after July, 2000.

"The reporting to Ministers (of the OECD) is expected to distinguish between uncooperative tax havens and jurisdictions that choose to commit themselves to work towards eliminating the harmful aspects of their regimes,'' the OECD said yesterday, confirming that "no distinction will be made between jurisdictions that are independent states and those that are dependencies''.

The OECD said it has concluded "an initial technical evaluation'' of those jurisdictions it considered might be operating tax havens, a list believed to be 47 countries long.

"Preliminary findings will be presented to the Committee on Fiscal Affairs, the OECD's senior tax policy body, at a meeting in January,'' the organisation says, with the final list of perceived offenders being presented to the OECD Council in June, 2000.

The mystery of whether or not the list would be made public has also been resolved: the names of offenders will be published, the OECD said yesterday, but not until after June 2000.

The OECD has no direct powers to penalise those countries and territories it deems to be carrying out harmful tax practices, but said: "The identified jurisdictions will be encouraged to eliminate the harmful features of their regimes as part of an ongoing co-operative dialogue with the OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices.'' Premier Jennifer Smith and Finance Minister Eugene Cox have both said that they thought Bermuda's representations to the OECD on the matter of harmful tax competition had gone well.

The Forum, mandated by the 1998 Report on Harmful Tax Competition to produce a list of tax havens, has, over the last year, engaged in "extensive factual review and dialogue" with the jurisdictions initially identified for review, with the exception of those -- "a small number'', the OECD now says -- that chose not to participate.

BUSINESS BUC