The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Tuesday it has removed the Philippines among its black list of countries considered as uncooperative tax havens.

In a statement posted on its website, the Paris-based group said that the four countries in the black list—the Philippines, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Uruguay—have committed to the tax exchange information standard and would propose legislation to harmonize the local laws with the agreed international standards.

It added, “They have been moved to the category of ‘jurisdictions that have committed to the internationally agreed tax standard, but have not yet substantially implemented’ in the OECD progress report first issued on 2 April.”

In essence, the Philippines was promoted to the middle tier—or grey—list, which names countries that had committed to the tax reporting standards agreed with other OECD and non-OECD members in 2004, but had not yet fully implemented them.

"We appreciate the OECD's quick action to remove us from the list of non-cooperative countries to the internationally agreed tax standards," Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said in a written statement. "We will be working closely with congress to review existing legislation relative to bank secrecy and tax information secrecy to align our practices with OECD standards."

The OECD, which seeks to coordinate the economic polices of its 30 industrialized members, on Friday named and shamed the four countries for not pledging to abide by international tax reporting standards, which require countries to provide banking information if and when foreign tax authorities inquire about it. Any information exchange are provided privacy safeguards.

The Philippines had disputed its inclusion in the lowest ranked list, citing the country’s bank secrecy law that limits its compliance with international commitments on tax cooperation. Any remedy would require legislation, which would take time.

Other countries also criticized the way the lists were drawn up, noting that there were no consultation or warning before the list was made public and that other territories with tax-friendly laws were not listed at all.

The publication, which had 3 lists (the black, grey, and white lists) was released as part of efforts to build momentum on pledges made at last week’s G20 summit in London where world leaders agreed to crack down on tax havens, which were considered to have played a role in the worsening economic crisis by disguising the true value of some global assets.

The grey list had 39 names, including European Union members Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg along with Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The white list identified 40 countries that had substantially implemented the tax reporting standards.