Very good work being done by those at the Accidental Americans FB group. Fabien Lehagre posted this today.
Good Afternoon –
Please find below the links to the final report (original in French and a rough translation in English) from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the French Commission on US Extraterritorial Overreach which includes FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) and the US practice of Citizenship Based Taxation and the adverse effects on French citizens who are Accidental Americans and French/American nationals which was published today. I have also added the link for the video presentation of the report (in French).
I have also attached a summary both in French and in English of the French Commission’s findings.
ROUGH ENGLISH TRANSLATION
INTRODUCTION 9
I. EXTRATERRITORIAL: EXTERNAL PERCEPTION OF “NO PROBLEM” THE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE
A. EXTRATERRITORIALITY, VIEWPOINT QUESTION
B. DESIGN SOME OF THE ROLE OF LAW
C. CONFLICTS OF AGGRAVATED BY BLOCKING CURRENT POLITICAL SYSTEM
II. ISSUES OF CERTAIN EXTRATERRITORIALITY US LAWS
A. THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ISSUES
B. ISSUES POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC: THE DANGER OF COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE, INCLUDING THE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE
III. ANALYSIS OF LEGAL EXTRATERRITORIAL LAWS OF US
A. GENERAL FOUNDATIONS OF LAWS TO REACH EXTRATERRITORIAL
B. PRACTICE: KEY “INPUTS” US LAWS OF EXTRATERRITORIAL
C. AMERICAN PRACTICES OF ACTION IS BASED ON UNCERTAIN CRITERIA, METHODS OF INTRUSIVE, OR ABUSIVE
IV. A POLITICAL AND LEGAL IN FRANCE AND EUROPE DO NOT POSING LIMITS extraterritoriality AMERICAN LAW
A. NO POLICY “CONVINCING” REPRESSION OF INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION MAY LIMIT THE INTRUSION EXTRATERRITORIAL AMERICAN
B. RECOGNITION OF THE APPLICATION OF FRENCH FATCA TO ADVERSE SIDE EFFECTS: THE PROBLEM OF “AMERICAN INCIDENTAL»
C. THE EMBARGO AND INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS APPLIED BUT MAINLY EUROPEAN AND SANCTIONED NATIONWIDE
V. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE MISSION: WEAPONS EQUAL TO PLAY
A. DEMAND RECIPROCITY AND EQUAL TO ACQUIRE WEAPONS TO FORCE POLICY CO-
B. THE EMBARGO AND ECONOMIC SANCTIONS: STRENGTHENING OF EUROPEAN MEDIA AND CLARIFICATION REQUIRED WITH DIPLOMATIC THE UNITED STATES
C. THE NECESSARY TOOLS TO ACQUIRE THE MEANS TO BE “WEAPONS TO EQUAL”
D. ANOTHER TRACK COOPERATION: INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS IN PARTICULAR THAT OF THE TRANSATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP, THE OFFER THEY FORWARD OPPORTUNITIES?
CONCLUSION
SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS
CONTRIBUTION OF JACQUES MYARD
WORK OF THE COMMISSION
APPENDIX 1: LIST OF PERSONS INTERVIEWED BY THE MISSION
APPENDIX 2: LETTER UNAI
VIDEO PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT (FRENCH)
See also:
I said:
“This paragraph in the Reuters article is highly relevant:
Swiss bank Credit Suisse said on Sunday it has put five employees on leave while it investigates a tax-related matter. Swiss paper SonntagsZeitung reported that the move was connected to a U.S. probe of the bank’s Israeli unit over possible tax evasion.“
This seems to be about IPOs of Israeli high-tech companies, which Credit Suisse has been facilitating. Five employees were put on leave last June, according to Bloomberg. Same five? Different five? Who knows, but at any rate the tax-evasion-assistance allegations seem to be about selling securities to US-Israeli duals. FATCA, in other words.
https://hightech.credit-suisse.com/Media/pdf/Entreprneurs.pdf
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-19/credit-suisse-puts-five-on-leave-amid-internal-investigation-ipmuke8s
Another relevant wikileaks result in the vein of what @socrates posted previous in this thread;
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6580
from
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/?q=FATCA&mfrom=&mto=&title=¬itle=&date_from=&date_to=&nofrom=¬o=&count=50&sort=6#searchresult
At the top of Part V: “The mission considers it necessary to draw the attention of the United States that certain practices have become abusive and that France no longer accept.”
Well … at the very least we have *one* country on the face of this earth who recognizes that the US has to be taken to task for their behaviour. I understand that much of the French ire is over corporate matters but the plight of individuals *has* been cited and we can bet that the US is going to hear about it.
As someone said, “Vive la France!”
@MuzzledNoMore – “I understand that much of the French ire is over corporate matters but the plight of individuals *has* been cited and we can bet that the US is going to hear about it.”
Unfortunately, although it’s certainly a very good analysis of the problems, and very useful for that alone, they don’t seem to come up with much in the way of recommendations for action by the French government that could help USCs in France. Or did I miss something?
To make any real difference, the bilateral treaties would have to be renegotiated, with particular attention to the saving clause and the articles on mutual assistance. Not something a non-US country can do without the co-operation of US. Sadly.
Of note,
“American lawyers argue that it is not a question of extraterritorial application of their laws, since “something” always tied them facts in the US. Yet discussed in the section of this report devoted to the legal analysis, that “something” is sometimes very tenuous and debatable.”
“The Attorney General Eric H. Holder would have stated: “Sanctions are a key tool in protecting protective US national security interests.”
But legally, the basis of US lawsuits seems to remain the “transit” of impugned transactions by the US financial system.”
“The overall conclusion resulting from this is simple: the majority of people and American institutions that are in a position of “decision makers” do not seem ready to admit that the law they develop and implement can cause diplomatic problems, let alone can may be forced by international commitments.”
It seems the US’ perception of its extraterritoriality is similar to Donald Trump’s use of his hands – let others at the receiving end prove it. In the meantime, it’s the usual ‘do as I say, not as I do’.
Thank you Patricia Moon for continuing to keep us informed. It’s good to see that something is happening in France to resist the overreach of the USA extraterritorial laws. Also good that something is happening in Israel to resist FATCA. We don’t know how either of these scenarios will play out in the end but great to see we Canadians are not alone our resistance to US tyranny.
Vive La France neuf mill fois!
Contre nous de la tyrannie!
I see that;
“Portugal postpones FATCA reporting until IGA goes into effect
12. October 2016” “This represents the 6th postponement of the initial deadline of 31 July 2015.”
http://blogs.pwc.de/citt/2016/10/12/portugal-postpones-fatca-reporting-iga-goes-effect/?pk_campaign=RSS-Feed&pk_kwd=Portugal%20postpones%20FATCA%20reporting%20until%20IGA%20goes%20into%20effect&WT.rss_f=CITT%20News%20Blog%20Feed&WT.rss_a=Portugal%20postpones%20FATCA%20reporting%20until%20IGA%20goes%20into%20effect
https://www.pwc.pt/en/pwcinforfisco/flash/2016/pwc-tax-flash-fatca-reporting-deadline-postponed-again.html
“This is the sixth postponement of the reporting deadline. The initial reporting deadline established in article 9 of RCIF was 31 July 2015.”
Francois Hollande in L’obs. No mention of FATCA (only the fines laid on European banks for sanctions violations, but interesting quote nonetheless).
Vous trouvez qu’il y a un excès de pouvoir des Etats-Unis ?
Un excès de pouvoir pour récupérer de l’argent et une insuffisance de pouvoir pour faire la paix.
Losely translated:
Interviewer: Do you find that there is an excess of U.S. power?
Hollande: An excess of power to recuperate money and an insufficience of power to make peace.
@Bubblebustin
Yes, there is always some tie to the U.S., even if it is tenuous. I think that this is how the law works in the U.S. when the federal government wants to get involved. In one of the civil rights cases, the Supreme Court ruled that the (interstate) commerce clause gave the federal government the right to desegregate a facility merely because most of the snacks sold came from out of state.
EmBee…
This quote from the article you posted from http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/03/02/its-the-geopolitics-stupid/ says it best:
“The truth is: there is no Canada. There is only an illusion maintained by servants. There are institutional remnants that would allow sovereignty to take hold, in a battle for the nation, but the intelligentsia and service managers have no interest in an independent and democratic nation on Canadian territory.”
It’s apparent that we are a “sovereign” country in nothing but name only – a boon to keep the natives (in this I mean Canadians as a whole) quelled and under subjugation. We are nothing but a colony of the United States and those Canadians who drove us to this point are absolute traitors.
I don’t think the US government will give up any of its Trojan Horses, namely its citizens abroad any time soon.
The UK needs to wake up and draft something similar, instead of condoning extraterritorial abuse and discrimination against its own citizens http://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/funds/the-40pc-tax-hit-for-britains-200000-americans/
“The UK needs to wake up and draft something similar, instead of condoning extraterritorial abuse and discrimination against its own citizens”
SO should every single nation in the world other than the perpetrator of this extraterritorial abuse.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CvEC_odUkAALzw-.jpg – God, The 2016 US Presidential Election has gravitated to the “lowest common denominator”. I think most people are losing IQ points watching it.