Amending law on exchange of information

Further to the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 16 May 2017 (Berlioz case, C-682/15), the Luxembourg law of 25 November 2014 on the procedure applicable to the exchange of information in tax matters (“EOIP Law”) has been amended by the Law of 1 March 2019 (“Amending Law”).

The Amending Law obliges the Luxembourg tax authorities to carry out a high level review on the foreseeable relevance of the incoming request for information before sending an order to the information holder. In case of disagreement, the information holder can seek an annulment of the Luxembourg tax authorities’ order before the Luxembourg Courts. In this respect, the Amending Law restores the information holder´s right for a judicial review of the legality of the request which was denied in the former version of the EOIP Law.

Regarding the procedure, the claim (which has a suspensive effect), must be filed with the Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal administratif) within one month of the notification of the information order and the judgement of the Administrative Tribunal can be appealed before the Administrative Court (Cour administrative) within 15 days following the Tribunal’s judgement.

For more details regarding the Berlioz case, please refer to our article "ECJ challenges the Luxembourg law on exchange of information" dated 12 July 2017 on our website.