St. Kitts and Nevis recently received a noteworthy distinction from France, but it is a recognition that most countries would not like to have bestowed upon them.

The two-island nation and 17 other countries, including Anguilla, Belize, St. Lucia and Grenada, were deemed as “uncooperative tax havens” by the French government earlier this week. It threatened to impose higher taxes on French companies that operate in those jurisdictions.

In reaction to the federation being on the blacklist, St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas blasted the French government. "We think that France has acted out of turn,” he said, “and it has acted prematurely against the commitment that was made with the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries that March 2010 would have been the deadline for any punitive action to be taken.”

Douglas, who is also finance minister, was referring to a decision made by the Paris-based OECD following a progress report from last April. It surveyed how jurisdictions across the globe were progressing towards implementing the internationally agreed tax standard.

St. Kitts and the other Caribbean countries are on the grey list, meaning that they have not yet implemented the internationally-agreed tax standard. In order to elevate to the white list, those nations had to sign at least 12 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with OECD member countries by the March deadline or face sanctions.

Prime Minister Douglas pointed out that the twin-island federation has since signed nine different agreements with OECD countries, and that additional agreements have been initiated with 11 other nations. Negotiations are continuing with six more countries.

Grenada, one of the other countries named as an uncooperative tax haven, cited the classification as just a bureaucratic error, according to Finance Minister Nazim Burke. Earlier this week, Burke said that a settlement has been reached between Grenada and France; a date for the signing the accord will be announced shortly.

"Just last week we concluded our negotiations with the government of France and its representatives," Burke said, adding "we have reached an agreement with them as to the content of the agreement that will be signed and we feel confident that is an error.” He also mentioned that Grenada is on target to conclude the agreed 12 TIEAs by next month as required by the OECD.