UK Privy Council confirms Jersey trustees' duty to hand over tax information.

From the Court of Appeal of Jersey, the UK Privy Council has upheld a notice issued by the Jersey authorities requiring a trust company to hand over tax information concerning a Jersey law trust, so that it could be passed to the Belgian authorities.

The appeal raised questions whether Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) applies to judicial review proceedings brought by the respondent Imperium Trustees (Jersey) Limited (“Imperium”)

• Challenging a notice to produce tax information issued by the first appellant, the Jersey Competent Authority (“the JCA”).

If it does, the appeal raises the further question.

• Whether article 2(1)(c) of the International Co-operation (Protection from Liability) (Jersey) Law 2018 (“the 2018 Law”), which protects the JCA from liability for costs in those proceedings, infringes the right of access to the court or the principle of equality of arms with the result that it is incompatible with article 6(1) in its application to the present case.

AN OUTLINE OF THE ISSUES

The trust company, Imperium Trustees (Jersey) Limited,

• Administers the Amiral Trust, whose sole beneficiary is a UK-resident Belgian national.
• The trust's principal asset is a Luxembourg company that indirectly owns a Belgian company.
• The Belgian authorities were investigating whether they could charge withholding tax on EUR150 million of dividends paid by the Belgian company to the Luxembourg companies.

In December 2021,

• They duly sought assistance from the Jersey government under the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and the bilateral Jersey-Belgium tax exchange agreement.

In February 2022,

• The Jersey competent authorities, acting on behalf of the Minister for Treasury and Resources, duly issued Imperium with the required notice under regulation 2 of the Taxation (Implementation) (Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters) (Jersey) Regulations 2014.
• Imperium accordingly handed over the information requested by the notice, but simultaneously applied for judicial review.
• Although the Royal Court of Jersey rejected Imperium's application, it also directed that Jersey should not provide any documentation or information to the Belgian tax authorities pending Imperium's application for leave to appeal.
• The appeal is based on confidentiality grounds and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
• However, the details are complex and concern the interaction between the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000 and the International Cooperation (Protection from Liability) (Jersey) Law 2018 (the 2018 Law).
• Imperium argued that the dispute was not about tax payment but the confidentiality of trust documentation when demanded on behalf of a foreign tax authority.
• The core issue was whether its article 8 ECHR rights can be lawfully interfered with, which had to be determined under civil rights within art. 6.

In 2024,

• The dispute reached the Jersey Court of Appeal.
• The appeal court ruled that the government's information request was incompatible with the ECHR.
• Accepting Imperium's arguments, it found that the 2018 Law’s provisions infringed on art. 6(1) of the ECHR: the right to a fair trial in a civil case.

Jersey's Attorney General and Minister for Treasury and Resources then appealed to the Judicial Committee of the UK Privy Council, the final court of appeal in such matters.

• Its decision now reverses the previous finding, deciding that the dispute between the parties is essentially a dispute about the legitimacy of a demand for tax information rather than the confidentiality of trust documents.

The Privy Council, giving judgment (Imperium Trustees (Jersey) Ltd v Jersey Competent Authority, 2025 UKPC 28), said

• 'Article 6(1) ECHR is not engaged in the proceedings by which Imperium challenges the legality of the tax information notice issued under the 2008 and 2014 Regulations',

The Attorney General, noting that the ruling is 'of great importance for Jersey', said

• ECHR case law has established that tax matters are areas of law involving the state's exercise of its public authority and fall outside the scope of 'civil rights and obligations',

The treasury minister added:

• 'It is vital that Jersey has a robust domestic legal framework which enables the island to comply with its international obligations…in a timely and effective way'.

Sources

• https://www.step.org/industry-news/uk-privy-council-confirms-jersey-trustees-duty-hand-over-tax-information
• Jersey government (judgment, PDF)  https://jcpc.uk/uploads/jcpc_2024_0044_judgment_327dbe54ad.pdf
• Jersey government  http://www.gov.je/News/2025/Pages/PrivyCouncilOverturnsDeclaration.aspx