Bermuda and Nordic Countries to Enter into Historic Tax Information Exchange Agreements.

HAMILTON, Bermuda -- Bermuda's Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Paula A. Cox JP, MP, said today she was delighted that the signing of the Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA's) with the Nordic group is only weeks away.

The Nordic group of countries includes Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden and the agreements will be signed at a ceremony at the Swedish Embassy in Washington D.C. on April 16, 2009.

Minister Cox said today, "Bermuda has consistently lived up to its commitment to the OECD without interruption unlike many other jurisdictions that have revived efforts to conclude TIEAs only after being publicly named as uncooperative or as not living up to the commitment to the OECD.

"In order to fulfill our commitment, we have established a treaty unit within the Ministry of Finance Headquarters. Upon conclusion of the model TIEA in 2002 Bermuda was one of the first jurisdictions to proactively undertake the process to negotiate TIEAs with both OECD and European Union members. In 2003 Bermuda responded favourably to the request from Australia and similarly thereafter requests from New Zealand, the UK and Mexico.

"In 2006, we entered into negotiation agreements with Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordic group and other countries. Bermuda expects to have attained a total of 12 signed TIEAs within the next several months."

TIEA's represents the standard of effective exchange of information for the purposes of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) initiative on harmful tax practices.