OECD claims tax transparency progress but near 'empty' tax haven list disappoints some

OECD releases outcome of "Fast-Track review process" to assess transparency standards of countries in the run-up to the G20 Summit scheduled on July 7-8; OECD states that "The latest results of the Fast Track review show that progress has now been made by most jurisdictions in meeting the international tax transparency standards"; Only one jurisdiction, Trinidad and Tobago, rated as “Non-Compliant” against the Exchange of Information on Request (EOIR) standard, while six jurisdictions viz. Anguilla, Curaçao, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, Sint Maarten, and Turkey have been rated as “Partially Compliant”; OECD Release says "In the last 15 months, the significant changes made by jurisdictions towards meeting the EOIR standard have led to upgrades in the overall ratings of 17 jurisdictions..."; Panama and the United Arab Emirates have received upgraded rating of 'Largely Compliant'; OECD clarifies that the outcome of the "fast-track review" is a provisional rating and the jurisdictions which have received improved provisional ratings will undergo a full peer review under the second round of reviews; India has been rated as "compliant" while countries like Singapore, Mauritius, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg have been rated as "Largely Compliant" in the first round of Global Forum reviews; NGO Tax Justice Network sharply criticises the OECD announcement as undermining the progress that has been achieved over the last few years, terms it " disheartening to see the OECD fall back into the old pattern of creating ‘tax haven’ blacklists on the basis of criteria that are so weak as to be near enough meaningless..."