Swiss Parliament approves final draft of New Data Protection Act   On 25 September 2020, the Swiss Parliament approved the final draft of the revised Data Protection Act (rev-DPA), with the aim to modernise its data protection laws and align it to the latest EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The rev-DPA could still be...Read More

EU-US Privacy Shield invalidated by CJEU. Troubles for FATCA?   On July 20, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield arrangement (drafted in 2016 by the European Commission). The deal had previously allowed the transfer of personal data from EU parties to US counterparts, providing a self-certification mechanism...Read More

During its meeting on 20 September 2019, the Federal Council decided to immediately suspend the automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) with Bulgaria due to a problem with the country’s data security. The systems and databases of Swiss tax administrations and financial institutions are not affected by this incident. The first automatic exchange on...Read More

Malta has incorporated certain provisions of the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive into its beneficial ownership registration regulations. From 1 January 2020, any person can inspect the name, month and year of birth, nationality, country of residence and the extent and nature of the beneficial interest of the beneficial owners of a company, without having...Read More

Ireland’s central register of beneficial ownership of companies was officially launched on 29 July, after a postponement allowing certain clarifications to be made regarding beneficial owners’ personal public services (PPS) numbers. Companies that existed before 22 June 2019 must report their beneficial ownership information to the registrar before 22 November 2019, while those formed after...Read More