By Chino S. Leyco

The Philippines has maintained a “Largely Compliant” rating with internationally agreed standards on the Exchange of Information On Request (EOIR) following a peer review done by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum).

Several jurisdictions have undergone or are undergoing the in-depth peer review process, which is currently in its second round of reviews covering the period of April 2014 to March 2017.

The first round of reviews were in 2013, in which the Philippines also emerged as “Largely Compliant (LC).” The peer review process evaluates the jurisdictions’ compliance with the international standard of transparency and EOIR.

A Philippine delegation led by Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko took part in the 29th Peer Review Group Meeting of the Global Forum held last June 11 to 15 in Liechtenstein and successfully defended the LC rating of the Philippines.

During the working meeting with the Peer Review Group (PRG), which discussed, evaluated, and approved the peer review report of the Philippines.

Tionko was also joined by the representatives from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Peer Review Report for the Philippines was just recently released and published by the Global Forum.

In the second-round report, the Philippines received an overall rating of “Largely Compliant.”

This means that the Philippines remains to be largely compliant with the internationally agreed standards on EOIR and the country’s legal and regulatory framework are in place, but some aspects, like ensuring availability of beneficial ownership information for all relevant legal persons and arrangements, need improvement.

The report likewise noted that since the last review, the Philippines has addressed several of the recommendations.

Other jurisdictions with a “Largely Compliant” rating, based on the second round of reviews, include, among others, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Japan and India.