Filippo Noseda, Partner in the Private Wealth and Tax team, has written the fourth of a series of articles for Tax Notes International, which looks at the compatibility of systems of bulk processing of personal data such as the US Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the OECD's (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Common Reporting Standard, and Beneficial Ownership Registers.
The second article discussed internal EU documents that showed how the European Commission had opposed the introduction of fully public registers of beneficial ownership, later held to be invalid by the European Court of Justice.
More recently, Filippo (working closely with EU Petitioners) filed an Access to Document Request to all EU institutions requesting disclosure of all EU internal documents discussing the data protection implications of systems of automatic exchange of information, such as FATCA and the CRS (Common Reporting Standard).
The Council of the EU resisted extensive disclosure notwithstanding the existence of an overriding interest in disclosure, citing exceptions under the relevant EU Access to Documents Regulation. According to the EU Council, releasing internal documents in this area could prejudice internal relations and adversely affect the protection of financial, monetary and fiscal policy of the EU and its Member States.
In the article, Filippo argues that the refusal to disclose information is symptomatic of a widespread culture of secrecy that pervades the EU establishment and is aimed at frustrating the enforcement of fundamental rights (see also the discussion in a recent article in The Economist entitled The sleeping policeman at the heart of Europe).
Read the full article, Tax Notes International, 17 July 2025, cover and pp. 81-89.