Imperium Trustees (Jersey) Limited (Respondent) v Jersey Competent Authority (Appellant) (Jersey)

Permission to Appeal application lodged

Case summary
Permission to Appeal
Previous proceedings

Case summary

Case ID

JCPC/2026/0038

Jurisdiction

Jersey

Parties

Appellant(s)

Jersey Competent Authority

Respondent(s)

Imperium Trustees (Jersey) Limited

Issue

Should the Royal Court of Jersey ought to answer for itself the question whether the information sought by the Jersey Competent Authority is “tax information”? Did the Royal Court of Jersey adopt too restrictive a view as to what information sought by the Competent Authority of Belgium was “foreseeably relevant” to the enquiry or investigation in respect of which its request to the Jersey Competent Authority was made?

Facts

On 24 December 2021, the Jersey Competent Authority (“JCA”) received a request for assistance from the Competent Authority of Belgium (“BTA”) under the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The BTA sought the exchange information in respect of the Amiral Trust (“Trust”) in connection with an investigation under Belgian tax of the failure by a Belgian company, Katoen Natie VB, to withhold and account for Belgian tax on dividends paid to its parent company in circumstances where the BTA understood that monies representing those dividends were subsequently paid to the trustee of the Trust. On 22 February 2022, the Jersey Competent Authority issued a notice to Imperium Trustees (Jersey) Limited (“Imperium”), a trust company which provides private client services and which is trustee of the Trust. The Trust has a 100% shareholding in a Luxembourg-resident company called Katoen Natie Group SA. That company in turn owns 100% of Katoen Natie International SA, another Luxembourg-resident company, which is a holding company in a multinational group taking in hundreds of companies in over 30 different countries, including Belgium. The dividends paid by Katoen Natie Group SA to the Trust each year run into hundreds of millions of euros. The Notice required Imperium to produce documents and records for provision to the BTA regarding dividends paid by Katoen Natie Group SA to the Trust and information about the Trust itself, including in respect of its assets and payments. It was issued pursuant to Regulation 2 of the Taxation (Implementation) (Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 (“2014 Regulations”) and Regulation 3 of the Taxation (Exchange of Information with Third Countries) (Jersey) Regulations 2008 (“2008 Regulations”). On 8 March 2022, Imperium applied for leave to apply for judicial review of the issuing of the Notice. This was refused by the Royal Court of Jersey. Imperium appealed to the Court of Appeal of Jersey, which on 1 June 2023 allowed the appeal and granted Imperium leave to apply for judicial review. Following incidental proceedings, and having heard Imperium’s application for judicial review, on 29 April 2026 the Royal Court quashed in part the Notice. The JCA now appeals to the Privy Council.