EU Savings Directive

25 June 2009

Jersey's Deputy Chief Minister has confirmed the island's continued support for the automatic exchange of information, following the Isle of Man 's announcement this week that it would move to automatic exchange from 1st July 2011.

Senator Philip Ozouf says: "Jersey supported the automatic exchange of information approach to the implementation of the EU Savings Directive (EUSD) when it was initially proposed. We introduced the option to pay a withholding tax when it was decided to allow the EU Member States of Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria a transition period during which to impose a withholding tax, when the Directive was introduced on 1st July 2005.

"Jersey remains ready to introduce automatic exchange of information as soon as the EU brings the transitional period to an end, and Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg move to automatic information exchange."

If conditions set out in the EUSD are met by the end of 2009, this should result in all relevant jurisdictions moving to the automatic exchange of information from 1st January 2011.

Jersey welcomes continued efforts to ensure that a level playing field is implemented both within the EU and by extension of this standard to other jurisdictions, including Switzerland.