Guernsey has signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Greece.
It was signed by Guernsey's Chief Minister, Lyndon Trott and Ilias Plaskovitis, Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance in Greece.
Mr Plaskovitis signed the agreement during the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, which took place in Singapore on 29th September. The document was then transported back to Guernsey by Rob Gray, Guernsey's Director of Income Tax (who was the Island's delegate at the Global Forum Meeting), for counter-signature by the Chief Minister on 8th October.
Guernsey's Chief Minister said: "I am delighted that Guernsey has signed another international tax agreement with an EU Member State. I think it is especially symbolic that this agreement was signed, on behalf of Greece, during the course of the Global Forum Meeting, as it is the Global Forum that decides the international standards for exchange of information for tax purposes, which these agreements put into practice."
Under the terms of the TIEA, Guernsey will, on request, exchange bank and other information relating to both criminal and civil tax matters. It means that Guernsey has now signed a total of 17 TIEAs.
Guernsey continues to negotiate further TIEAs and expects further Agreements to be signed before the end of 2010 and into 2011.
The Island's commitment to exchange of information contributed to its inclusion on the G20 'white list' published on 2nd April 2009 and Guernsey has been recognised as having substantially implemented the OECD's internationally agreed tax standard on exchange of information.
Guernsey has now signed TIEAs with 17 jurisdictions: Australia, Denmark, the Faroes, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, the UK and the US.
For more information about Guernsey's finance industry please visit www.guernseyfinance.com.
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