The EU Standard of Good Governance in Tax Matters for Third (Non-EU) Countries

This article analyses the standard of good governance in tax matters introduced by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) in 2008, with a view to tackle tax fraud and tax evasion. At that time, the standard included transparency, exchange of information and fair tax competition. Later on, several OECD and EU developments have changed the content of this standard. As of April 2018, the standard of good governance includes also the four Minimum Standards of the Project to tackle base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) practices by multinationals. This standard has been introduced by the EU as a precondition for third (non-EU) countries that receive EU development aid, conclude strategic partnership agreements, free trade and economic partnership agreements and more recently as a standard that determines whether the third (non-EU) country should be included in a single EU common list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. This article aims answers two questions (1) whether the standard of good governance in tax matters is an import and/or export of EU norms? and (2) what is the legal status of this standard vis-a-vis third (non-EU) countries? Finally, this article provides conclusions and recommendations for further research.