Spain protests United States-Gibraltar tax agreement
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By m.p. - May 4, 2009 - 4:20 PM
Spain that it was signed before just two flags: of the U.S. and Gibraltar

It’s been reported this Monday that Spain has made a formal complaint to the United States over an agreement for the exchange of tax information which the US signed with Gibraltar on 31st March. ABC newspaper reports that the protest does not object to the agreement itself, which is considered to be positive, but to the fact that it was signed before the Gibraltar and United States flags, as if, the paper says, Gibraltar were independent. The British flag was not present at the signing.

ABC says Luis Felipe Fernández de la Peña, the Foreign Ministry’s general director for Europe and North America, called both the US Embassy’s chief of business affairs, Arnold Chacón, and the UK Ambassador, Denise Holt, to the Foreign Ministry to pass on Spain’s objections.

London is said to have stated that delegations from the UK and Washington took part in the signing, and that normal UK protocol was followed. Spain is understood to be studying if the delegation referred to by the UK authorities is legally valid, ABC said.

The agreement signed in London by Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, and the US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, is the first of a series of Tax Information Exchange Agreements which Gibraltar is to sign this year.

This particular agreement was signed just days before the OECD – the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – published its report on progress by world financial centres towards implementing an internationally agreed standard on exchange of tax information. Gibraltar appeared on the so-called‘grey’ list of ‘tax havens which have not yet made all the progress required.

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