Four Pacific islands countries have been placed on a French blacklist of countries considered to have inadequate taxation and fiscal standards
The four are the Cook Islands, Niue, the Marshall Islands and Nauru.
This means that any French organisation carrying out financial transactions with any of these countries will face huge tax levies.
In a document signed by the French finance minister, it is made clear that dividends, service fees, royalties, and interest paid by a French entity to a beneficiary in a blacklisted country will be faced with 50 percent tax.
The new law, which applies to a total of 18 countries, is to be reviewed next January to gauge the fiscal compliance progress of the jurisdictions and possibly remove the sanctions.