Bermuda is set to come under close scrutiny as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) steps up its fight against cross-border tax evasion.

Countries participating in the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information have launched a peer review process of international tax co-operation, starting with a group of 18 jurisdictions including Bermuda, Australia, Barbados, Botswana, Canada, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Germany, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Jersey, Mauritius, Monaco, Norway, Panama, Qatar and Trinidad & Tobago.

The reviews are the first step in a three-year process approved by the Global Forum last month in response to the call by the Group of 20 (G20) leaders at their Pittsburgh Summit in September 2009 for improved tax transparency and exchange of information.

They will indicate the extent to which jurisdictions have implemented the international standards on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes and identify those jurisdictions which are not making progress, with guidance on the changes required and a deadline to report back on the improvements they have made.

Finance Minister Paula Cox said that Bermuda, which is set to host the 2011 OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, has been "strongly committed" to the review process from the outset.

"In our capacity as vice-chair of the Global Forum's Steering Group, Bermuda considered the core documents required to launch the peer review process and examined the progress of the Global Forum in moving forward on the mandate given to it by the G20 in November 2009," she said.

"Bermuda has worked hard alongside the other members of the Global Forum to ensure that the peer review process can start quickly and be carried out in a robust, comprehensive and sophisticated manner to ensure consistent implementation of the OECD standard on information exchange by all jurisdictions."

Ms Cox said that the Global Forum would have the first opportunity to fully discuss the effectiveness of the review and its outcome at the meeting in Bermuda next year.

By that time, she said phase one of the process, which included an assessment of the legislative and regulatory framework, would be completed and phase two, an assessment of the effective implementation in practice, would be substantially underway.

Ms Cox added that Bermuda was most recently assessed as meeting the international tax standards of the Global Forum's annual assessment of progress, published in August 2009 and that she anticipated a principled, fair and thoughtful application of the methodology set out in the review process.

The review reports will be published once they have been adopted by the Global Forum, whose next meeting will take place in Singapore at the end of September 2010.

Mike Rawstron, chairman of the Global Forum, said: "This is the most comprehensive, in-depth review on international tax co-operation ever. There has been a lot of progress over the past 18 months, but with these reviews we are putting international tax co-operation under a magnifying glass.

"The peer review process will identify jurisdictions that are not implementing the standards. These will be provided with guidance on the changes required and a deadline to report back on the improvements they have made."

In addition to a complete schedule of forthcoming reviews, the Global Forum has also published three other key documents, including the terms of reference explaining the information exchange standard countries must meet, the methodology of the reviews, and the assessment criteria for rating countries.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said: "The Global Forum has been quick to respond to the G20 call for a robust peer review mechanism aimed at ensuring rapid implementation of the OECD standard on information exchange.

"This is the most comprehensive peer review process in the world, and it is based on decades of experience at the OECD of conducting reviews of this kind in many other areas of policy making. I look forward to seeing the first results later this year."

The Global Forum brings together 91 countries and territories, including both OECD and non-OECD countries. At a meeting in Mexico in September 2009, participants agreed that all members as well as identified non-members would undergo reviews on their implementation of the standard.