Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes

14/10/2024 – The Global Forum Secretariat and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are assisting the Cook Islands in preparing for its upcoming peer review, aimed at assessing the jurisdiction’s compliance with the international Standard of transparency and exchange of information on request (EOIR). From 8 to 10 October 2024, the Global Forum Secretariat and the ADB carried out a mock on-site visit in Avarua to discuss progress achieved and remaining challenges and to prepare stakeholders for the review process. Various meetings with government representatives and the private sector were organised.

The Cook Islands’ legal and regulatory framework (Phase 1 review) was already peer-reviewed by the Global Forum in 2022 under the EOIR standard’s terms of reference – as adopted in 2016 – and it was deemed to be in place, and generally ensuring the availability, access and exchange of all relevant information for tax purposes, but needing improvements in several areas. Since then, in partnership with the ADB, the Global Forum Secretariat has been providing technical assistance to help address the legal gaps identified in the Phase 1 review, and to prepare for the upcoming review covering the practical implementation of the EOIR standard (Phase 2 review), which is scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2024. The findings of this peer review are expected to be published in 2025.

The Global Forum is the leading multilateral body mandated to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement both the exchange of information on request standard and the standard of automatic exchange of information. These objectives are achieved through a robust monitoring and peer review process. The Global Forum also runs an extensive capacity-building programme to support its members in implementing the standards and help tax authorities make the best use of cross-border information sharing channels.

The Global Forum capacity-building programme is supported by the following development partners:

For more information, please contact gftaxcooperation@oecd.org.