Bermuda is no longer officially regarded as a tax haven.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said yesterday it had promoted the Island from its “grey list” to the “white list” of countries ranked by their progress on meeting international tax transparency standards.

The OECD announcement came shortly after Finance Minister Paula Cox and Netherlands Deputy Minister Jon Kees de Jager signed the Island’s 12th tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) at the Dutch embassy in London.

Twelve TIEAs is the qualifying standard to reach the “white list” of countries considered to have implemented international standards of tax transparency.

Jeffrey Owens, director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, said the 12th TIEA was a “very significant development” for Bermuda.

“When we first issued the Progress Report, Bermuda had only three agreements but it has been able to rapidly implement the standard by signing nine agreements in two months,” Mr. Owens said.

Minister Cox said: “We shall continue to build upon our long standing position of transparency and cooperation which has, through the years, differentiated Bermuda from other jurisdictions.”

Bermuda has concluded negotiations on three more TIEAs, with Germany, Mexico and Canada, which are expected to be signed later this year.

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