Spain has officially ended a 35-year period of classifying Gibraltar as a non-cooperative tax jurisdiction. The decision was formalized through a ministerial order released on Saturday in the Official State Gazette. This move officially removes Gibraltar from a category that continues to include nations such as Barbados, Dominica, Samoa, Seychelles, and Trinidad and Tobago.
This policy shift is based on specific technical criteria rather than diplomatic maneuvering. The transition follows the successful implementation of a bilateral tax cooperation agreement signed in 2019 and effective since March 2021. According to the Spanish Ministry of Finance, Gibraltar now meets international standards by participating in the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes and by adhering to the OECD’s framework, including the ratification of the 15% global minimum tax for multinational corporations.
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, described the delisting as the correction of a historic injustice that lasted over three decades, noting that it was a development that should have occurred much earlier. The change aligns with a broader European context, as regulatory frameworks involving the Rock, the UK, and the EU are being finalized post-Brexit, and the European Commission pushes for stricter anti-tax-evasion standards.
The removal has faced some opposition, with the Tax Justice Network ranking Gibraltar 37th on its corporate tax haven list and suggesting the territory facilitates roughly $7.354 billion in annual revenue losses for other nations. Critics in international taxation emphasize that such government lists often focus strictly on the formal exchange of information rather than actual corporate tax practices.
In a concurrent update to the blacklist, Russia has been added to Spain’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for the first time. This action mirrors a similar move by the European Union in February 2023, prompted by Moscow’s lack of cooperation on tax transparency. While economic ties between Spain and Russia are already heavily restricted due to sanctions related to the invasion of Ukraine, this new status imposes an additional layer of scrutiny on any remaining commercial transactions involving Russian entities.
