In the past, the Netherlands Antilles was considered a tax haven, because of its
ring-fenced offshore tax regime. As a consequence it appeared on the blacklist of the
OECD. But in 2001 the Netherlands Antilles abolished its off shore regime and
introduced a new state of the art international taxation regime, and is no longer
considered a tax haven. Despite a decline, this sector is still the second most important
economic sector for Curac ¸ao after tourism. It is a high-quality sector, both in terms of
technology and human capital, and therefore makes a high-value contribution to the
economy (Department of Economic Affairs, 2007, pp. 80-2).