The government proposed a draft law (Dutch) that includes changes to the existing rules providing for the automatic exchange of information (AEOI) and related obligations, which are expected to be adopted before the end of this year:
- DAC7: A reporting platform operator would be required to notify each involved natural person about the fact that it will gather and report their relevant data. Additionally, it would have to share the relevant data with each reportable seller by January 10 following the reporting period (i.e., instead of January 31). The aim is to give the seller the opportunity to comment on the reportable data before the reporting deadline of the platform operator. Also, the retention period for data of excluded sellers would be increased to 10 years (from three years) to align it with the general retention period of other reportable data. Finally, the new rules would introduce guarantee requirements for platform operators whose registration is revoked in Belgium or in another member state.
- Penalties under DAC6 and DAC7: The penalty regime for DAC6 and DAC7 would be modified to also accommodate situations when non-compliance is “independent of will.” The new rules would state that a penalty can be levied, which implies that it does not have to be levied under circumstances when non-compliance is independent of will.
- Protection of personal data: The new rules would specify the responsibilities of the Belgian competent authorities regarding any breach of data security, including the obligation to notify the European Commission of such breach, the possibility to suspend the exchange of information, and the investigation and resolution of the data breach. In the context of these rules, reporting financial institutions, intermediaries, reporting platform operators, and the Belgian competent authority would be considered controllers when they, alone or jointly, determine the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.
Read a December 2024 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in Belgium