sovereign state. In fact, it proved possible to negotiate an arrangement which later became Protocol 3 to the U.K. Treaty of Accession to the European Communities, now the European Union (EU). In very broad terms, Jersey and the
other Crown dependencies are outside the EU for all purposes except for trade in goods. The protocol is very short but is
nonetheless not free from difficulty in terms of interpretation. Yet it has worked reasonably well for the last 45 years and still forms the basis of Jersey's
As the tectonic plates of European
and indeed global affairs shift, small states like Jersey can quite suddenly find themselves in a different landscape. So it was with the moves by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the EU to influence business taxation. The issues raised by those political
initiatives are beyond the remit of this article, but they have had constitutional effects in Jersey. The U.K. recognized that it could not defend the interests of the Bailiwick in the
identity in order to protect its political and economic interests. A number of agreements with foreign countries have been concluded both in the sphere of the EU (the savings tax agreements) and in the context of the OECD (the tax and information exchange agreements). Where all this will lead is open to
discussion. The links with the Crown in right of the Duke of Normandy have lasted nearly 1,000 years. There will be no change in regard to
the Head of State. The links through the Crown with the English, and subsequently
The States in session with the Bailiff in the Chair and the Mace placed upright in front of him. relationship with Europe.
A world of change Any small nation, however, which aspires to retain its autonomy, and particularly its fiscal independence, in the shadow of larger nation states, must expect change in what is an increasingly interdependent world.
context of the OECD, for its own foreign policy objectives were different from those of Jersey. It was accordingly agreed that Jersey should represent itself in this international sphere, and the Bailiwick accordingly did so. Subsequently the government of
Jersey has sought, with the agreement of the U.K., to develop its international
the U.K., government have also endured for many centuries. So far a modus vivendi with the U.K. has been found which allows Jersey to seek to protect its own legitimate economic interests in the international sphere. Dependency still works, and
independence is not on the agenda, at least for the present.