MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) The country landed in a "black list of tax havens" drawn up by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, but government officials say they had not been appraised of the internationally agreed tax standard.

"We have not read it. How can we agree on something we have not read?" Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said in a text message, referring to the standard compliance that was used as basis for the OECD to draw up the list of countries which had not made any commitment to respecting international standards on exchanging tax information.

According to a report issued by the OECD Secretariat, the Philippines is among four countries that have not yet committed to the tax standard which the OECD developed in cooperation with non-OECD countries.

Endorsed by the G20 Finance Ministers at their Berlin meeting in 2004 and by the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters at its meeting in 2008, the standard "requires exchange of information on request in all tax matters for the administration and enforcement of domestic tax law without regard to a domestic tax interest requirement or bank secrecy for tax purposes."

Beltran said that under Philippine tax law, taxpayer information is confidential.

The OECD report said the standard "also provides for extensive safeguards to protect the confidentiality of the information exchanged."

In contrast, the Cayman Islands appears on a list of countries that have committed to the tax standard, "but have not yet substantially implemented" it.

Cayman Islands is trying to change its reputation for being a haven for money whose foreign owners want to keep away from their own governments by enacting legislation that allows it to exchange information unilaterally with 11 countries.

This second list has 30 other countries, including many island nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

A third list names countries that have "substantially implemented" the standard, including China, Japan and South Korea.

In a statement posted on the OECD website, the group's secretary general, Angel Gurria, said recent developments reinforce the status of the OECD standard as the international benchmark, and represent significant steps toward a level playing field.

"We now have an ambitious agenda that the OECD is well-placed to deliver on," Gurria said. "I am confident that we can turn these new commitments into concrete actions to strengthen the integrity and transparency of the financial system."