UK Chancellor Gordon Brown told fellow EU finance ministers at a meeting in Italy that the British dependent territory had not yet told him how it intended to apply the new rules and he could legislate to force the Caribbean jurisdiction to comply.
ersey has already decided to accept the directive by first adopting a withholding tax, which will have a gradually increasing rate until the tax is replaced by exchange of information agreements with EU member states.
ut the Cayman Islands appear more reluctant to fall into line.
The jurisdiction has already taken the UK to the European Court of Human Rights over the imposition of legislation by London and it appears determined to make the directive a constitutional issue.
From our perspective, the directive will have to be applied to the Cayman Islands to ensure a level playing field,’ said Jersey Finance Ltd chief executive, Phil Austin.
‘However, the jurisdiction doesn’t appear willing to accept directions from London so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
