On Wednesday, 22 October, Belgium’s Court of the Markets examined the appeal filed by the Belgian State against the decision issued by the Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA), which had, in April, decided that it was unlawful to transfer Belgian citizens’ banking data to US tax authorities under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (‘FATCA’) (see EUROPE 13628/14).
During the hearing, the Federal Public Service (FPS) Finance—which is calling for the decision to be overturned—expressed its belief that the DPA was “arguing for censure”. It considered the DPA’s arguments based on Article 96 of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), regarding the relationship with previously concluded agreements, to be invalid. “The DPA went beyond its remit”, declared the FPS Finance representative, considering the matter to fall within the jurisdiction of the EU Court of Justice.
The representative also explained that the FPS was only having the information sent by financial institutions processed and that it was not a matter of processing all of the data on people affected by ‘FATCA’.
The DPA’s representative replied that the Belgian legislature had appointed the FPS as the body responsible for processing data sent to the IRS, the US federal tax agency. “Under this Trump administration, we have seen that the walls between the various US administrations are very porous—especially at the level of the IRS, which is often solicited for non-tax purposes”, he added, calling for “a less intrusive solution” to be found.
The Court must now deliberate; its judgment is expected to be handed down on Wednesday, 3 December. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)