Russia has joined Samoa in the latest update of 16 jurisdictions from around the world placed on a European Union (E.U.) blacklist due to their "non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes".

The European Commission Headquarters in Brussels announced the latest update on non-cooperative jurisdictions on Tuesday 14 February 2023 and includes seven Pacific Island nations including Samoa and its neighbour American Samoa. 

The E.U. ministers of finance and economy announced the updated blacklist with Russia among the four newest members. 

"The E.U. list is made up of 16 jurisdictions due to their lack of commitment to improve their tax good governance or due to the lack of progress in delivering on their previous commitments," reads the E.U. statement.

"Those countries are American Samoa, Anguilla, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu."

The E.U. said under its process, jurisdictions are assessed against three main criteria – tax transparency, fair taxation and their implementation of BEPS [base erosion and profit shifting] minimum standards.

"Those that fall short on any of these criteria are asked for a commitment to address the deficiencies within a set deadline, and are included in the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (Annex I) if these commitments are not met.

"Thanks to the E.U. listing process, many countries have already taken concrete measures to comply with tax good governance standards, with over 140 harmful regimes having been eliminated worldwide since 2017. 

"The Commission will continue to work with Member States to improve the process by reviewing the criteria of the listing process, as well as the consequences for listed countries."

According to the respected International Tax Review magazine in a commentary published on 17 February 2023, Samoa is among "persistently blacklisted jurisdictions" which have been on the list since 2017.

"Persistently blacklisted jurisdictions include American Samoa, Guam, Samoa, and Trinidad and Tobago. These jurisdictions have been on the E.U. blacklist every year since 2017," the magazine said in an analysis of the blacklist.

"Nine jurisdictions were blacklisted in February 2022 and this number increased to 12 by October last year. The jump to 16 jurisdictions makes the latest E.U. blacklist the longest since December 2017, when 17 jurisdictions found themselves on the list."

The Samoa Observer has sent questions to the E.U. Delegation Pacific regional office in Suva, Fiji which oversees its programmes in the region, seeking an update on work being done behind the scenes to remove Samoa from the blacklist.

The Samoa International Finance Authority (SIFA) is the Samoa Government entity that has been leading negotiations to have the country remove from the blacklist.