Tax and Customs Administration – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2020)

The plaintiff received a tax assessment from the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (i.e. a letter in which it tells you how much you have to pay). She didn’t agree with its content, and therefore submitted an objection. The Tax and Customs Administration rejected the objection and maintained the assessment and the tax decision. So the plaintiff filed an appeal. One of the grounds for appeal argued by the plaintiff was that her privacy (as enshrined in the GDPR) has been violated as estbalished in other proceedings. Different stages of the tax levy and objection processes have indeed been assigned to different organisational units established in different locations, which gave the plaintiff an unpleasant feeling that her details were everywhere. As a result, a relatively large number of people were required to gain access to her information. Does the way the tax levy and objection processes of the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration have been designed violate the plaintiff's privacy? The District Court interpreted the plaintiff's argument as an appeal on the basis of the right to privacy as enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (rather than the GDPR). In the District Court's opinion, the tax levy and objection processes constitute in itself an interference with an individual's right to privacy by the public authorities. After all, the Tax and Customs Administration collects and stores large amounts of information of a private nature in that context. Such interference is reinforced by the fact that various stages of the tax levy and objection processes were assigned to different organisational units. However, not all interference with an individual's right to privacy constitutes a breach of Article 8 of the ECHR. This is not the case if the interference is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the preven