In the summer of 2020, the Dutch government presented a draft bill on amending and clarifying the lawyer-client privilege of lawyers and civil-law notaries to the tax authorities for consultation.
The authors believe that the proposed amendment is unnecessary, and that it will lead to uncertainty about the scope of lawyer-client privilege. The proposal may severely curtail lawyer-client privilege and create a notification requirement for lawyers and civil-law notaries under the Dutch International Assistance in the Levying of Taxes Act (Wet op de internationale bijstandsverlening bij de heffing van belastingen).
You can read Alexander van der Voort Maarschalk, Fyrone Denny and Diede van der Voort’s response here*.
* This publication is only available in Dutch.
