On 10 November the problems of European citizens with FATCA were discussed in the Committee on Petitions (PETI) of the European Parliament (announcement of the meeting here). The recording of the meeting can be viewed, details are below.

Speakers were the petitioner Mr. J.R., his lawyer Mr. Noseda, three representants of the office of the European Commission (Seailles, Biebel, Vekeman) and some members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

MEP Sophie in’t Veld reminded the audience that the US is one of the two states on earth that apply Citizen Based Taxation (the other country is Eritrea) and compel people that are not a resident of the US or have another relevant relation to the US, to file tax returns in the US on their world income. She told that she is already working nine years on the subject and is disappointed by the passivity of the European Commission, while in the meantime the position of European citizens is deteriorating (like loosing their bank accounts). In’t Veld called on the European Commission and the national authorities of the EU member states to defend the interests of the European citizens and suggested the European Commission opens an e-mail address for FATCA-victims.

More information:

• FATCA was item 18 on the PETI-agenda. The meeting documents are also mentioned in my earlier post.
• A recording of the meeting can be viewed here. The item on FATCA has a duration of about 35 minutes, starts around 17:44 hr and runs until 18:20 hr.

FATCA on this blog:

• General page on FATCA and the Accidental Americans (mostly in Dutch).
• Posts on this blog on: FATCA, extraterritorial legislation, financial human rights.

Addition 12 November 2020
The lawyer of the petitioner, Mr. Noseda, on his website published a letter he sent on 10 November 2020 to the Chair of the PETI committee, that he summarizes as follows:

This letter summarises some of the issues that were addressed during the public hearing before the European Parliament’s Petition Committee (PETI) which has been conducting an investigation into the data protection implications of FATCA.

Read the article on this letter.