Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what safeguards they plan to put in place to ensure that planned UK freeports and free zones are not susceptible (1) to tax evasion, and (2) to money laundering, activities that have been reported in relation to the freeports and free zones in EU member states.

The UK plays a key role in tackling cross-border illegal activity and this is not going to change. Freeports are commonly used across the globe, and we have learnt from these examples to build upon our current expertise to ensure cross-border illegal activity is thwarted.

1) The government’s commitment to combatting abusive tax practices, such as avoidance and evasion, has been a key consideration throughout the design of the Freeports tax offer. To ensure they are claimed only for legitimate purposes in support of the Freeport objectives, each relief has been designed with strict eligibility criteria. The legislation governing each relief will also contain mechanisms to prevent or combat illegitimate claims of those reliefs, such as clawback mechanism

2) Freeports will have to adhere to the OECD Code of Conduct for clean Free Trade Zones and must maintain the current obligations on Freeports set out in the UK’s Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.