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Transparency vs Privacy

Mishcon de Reya is representing several clients before the Courts in the UK and the EU in relation to claims concerning the data protection implications of systems of automatic exchange of information.

These claims are raising awareness of the data protection implications of systems of automatic exchange of information, as well as public registers of beneficial ownership.

The question of whether public registers of beneficial ownership are compatible with individuals' rights is currently before the Court of Justice of the European Union. In addition, Mishcon de Reya represents a claimant before the English High Court in a claim concerning FATCA and another separate claimant before the Constitutional Court in Austria in a claim concerning the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

FATCA

Mishcon de Reya is acting for a client, Jenny, who has launched a crowdfunding campaign on CrowdJustice seeking to challenge the legislation relating to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act ("FATCA") which she believes breaches her fundamental rights to data protection and privacy.

The Common Reporting Standard

The Common Reporting Standard (or 'CRS') is a global system of automatic information exchange developed by the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development based in Paris) and adopted by 102 jurisdictions around the world.

Beneficial Ownership Registers

In 2013, what was then the G8 (i.e. the G7 plus Russia prior to its exclusion in 2014) met in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland to assert its commitment to 'open economies, open societies and open governments as the basis of lasting growth and stability'. Against this backdrop, a number of jurisdictions (including the British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, as well as Canada) have announced the introduction of public registers of beneficial ownership.

Registers of people with significant control

With limited exceptions, UK companies, LLPs and certain other corporate entities are required to identify and record the people who own or control them on a "register of people with significant control". The PSC rules are aimed at achieving transparency in relation to the individuals who control companies and other entities and who previously might not have been identifiable because they sat behind opaque corporate or trust structures.

GDPR and Data Protection

The UK GDPR, like the GDPR itself, reaffirms and enhances, sometimes significantly, the rights of citizens and consumers to access their data electronically, to have it corrected or deleted, and to scrutinise data processing.