The Court of Justice of the EU upheld the validity of Directive (EU) 2018/822 on administrative cooperation in the field of direct taxation (DAC6), in particular the provisions of Article 8 on combating aggressive cross-border tax arrangements, in the judgment published on Monday 29 July (Case C-623/22).
The Court explains that the judgment of 8 December 2022 (see EUROPE 13080/28), which states that the obligation imposed on a lawyer to notify other intermediaries involved in the tax arrangement of their own reporting obligations breaches professional secrecy and applies only to lawyers. The confidentiality of the lawyer-client relationship enjoys very specific protection, due to the unique position of the lawyer within the judicial organisation of the Member States and the fundamental task entrusted to the lawyer, which is recognised by all the Member States.
The Court holds that the reporting obligation imposed on intermediaries who are not entitled to a waiver from that obligation as a result of the legal professional privilege by which they are bound and, in default, on the relevant taxpayer constitutes a proportionate and justified interference in the right to respect for private life, understood as the right of everyone to organise his or her private life.
It was the Belgian Constitutional Court that had decided to refer questions to the Court of Justice of the EU for a preliminary ruling. In 2020, some organisations representing lawyers and tax consultants, and some bar associations brought proceedings before the Belgian Constitutional Court, arguing that the Belgian law transposing the directive should be annulled. In their view, the directive breaches a number of provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and general principles of EU law.
To read the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/d67 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)