28/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - The decision of the Court in case C-305/05 (EUROPE 9455) involving restrictions on the professional confidentiality of legal experts in money laundering has attracted a degree of criticism. Clarisse Martin, Secretary General of the EU Council of Notaries, welcomed the clarity provided by the Court by stated that, “notaries are already obliged to provide information to the public authorities in suspicious cases” in compliance with the 2nd and forthcoming 3rd European directives on the matter. Jean-Pierre Buyle, a lawyer at the Brussels Barroso and Senior Lecturer at the Free University of Brussels described the decision as “very disappointing” in its “restrictive” view of the role of lawyers and also in light of Article 8 of the European Charter of Human Rights on infringements to rights to a private life. The case was sent to the Belgian Court but according to Mr Buyle, “the battle is still not over”. (cd)