Tuesday, 5 December, the EU Council released a raft of documents addressing tax avoidance and evasion within the EU as reforming tax competition worldwide. Offers a legislative formula ("BEPS Package") to assist "developing" governments' compliance with "The Code of Conduct for Business Taxation", which is not legally binding on EU members. Through the press enthusiastic EU constituents threaten sanctions against scofflaws.

"Blacklist": non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes

American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, Korea (Republic of), Macao SAR*, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, St Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tabago, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates

"Grey": Existence of harmful tax regimes

Andorra, Armenia, Aruba, Belize, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Cook Islands, Curacao, Fiji, Hong Kong SAR*, Jordan, Liechtenstein, Maldives, Mauritius, Morocco, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Seychelles, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, Andorra, Armenia, Aruba, Belize, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Cook Islands, Curacao, Fiji, Hong Kong SAR*, Jordan, Liechtenstein, Maldives, Mauritius, Morocco, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Seychelles, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, Vietnam

"Grey": Anti-BEPS Regimes

Aruba, Cook Islands, Faroe Islands, Greenland, New Caledonia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Taiwan, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cabo Verde, Fiji, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Jordan, Maldives, Montenegro, Morocco, Serbia, Swaziland, Vanuatu

"Grey": Tax regimes that facilitate offshore structures which attract profits without real economic activity

Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Vanuatu

source: ANNEX I - II (abridged), "The EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes" and Council conclusions adopted 12 May 2017, published 5 Dec 2017.
* an acronym of Special Administrative Region (of the People's Republic of China), likewise Hong Kong SAR. Inexplicably Crown Dependencies, Overseas Territories, and Channel Islands are neither distinguished nor excluded, as are 'Hurricane Countries' granted temporary reprieve, among subsets of deficient AND co-operative jurisdictions ("grey" listings] which have committed in some form or another to sign, ratify, and implement either the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAC) or the "network of agreements covering all EU Member States" by CYE 2019, the latest.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.