Professional Affairs Committee

Purpose

The Professional Affairs Committee deals with professional and regulatory matters. In this area, it develops opinions, which are transmitted to the European Community Commission, other bodies of the European Union as well as to governments and the interested public.

The CFE takes an active role in professional issues across a broad spectrum by:

• Promulgating professional standards for Tax Advisers so as to provide protection for consumers of tax advice
• Taking a positive role in co-operating with EU initiatives on money laundering
• Monitoring developments within the EU and elsewhere that may affect the practising rights of Tax Advisers
• Encouraging the free movement of Tax Advisers across national borders

Documents on selected issues:

• Professional Law Reports
• Opinion Statements
• Documents on selected issues: Money Laundering, Recognition of qualifications (see below)
• Report Foreign Tax Adviser in the Czech Republic by Radek Neuzil (Chief Executive, Czech Chamber of Tax Advisers in Czech Republic and Delegate of the CFE Professional Affairs Committee)

Charter of the European Professional Associations in Support of the Fight Against Organised Crime

On 27 July 1999 the CFE signed the ‘Charter of the European Professional Associations in Support of the Fight Against Organised Crime’ in Brussels, together with the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Community (CCBE), the Conference of Notaries of the European Union (CNUE), the European Federation of Accountants and Auditors for SME’s (EFAA) and the Federation of European Accountants (FEE).

After long negotiations with the General Secretariat of the European Commission, it was possible to agree a joint wording that was signed by the presidents and general secretaries of the European professional associations. The Charter is a policy declaration of intent that is not binding in law. It is based on the 1997 European Union Action Plan for the Fight against Organised Crime. The CFE wholeheartedly supports the intention of the Charter, which is to create a standard for the avoidance of involvement in organised crime that is uniform throughout the European professional associations. However it has repeatedly been pointed out that the obligation to report suspicious behaviour flies in the face of the Tax Adviser’s position of trust and his obligation to observe professional secrecy.

More information is available in the article: The Money Laundering under Codecision procedure in the European Union written by Karin Sauerteig (2002).

CFE Opinion Statements on Money Laundering:
Non-discriminatory treatment of tax adviser and lawyers in the money laundering Directive
Prevention of the use of a financial system for the purpose of money laundering
The desirable amendments to be included in the Third Money Laundering Directive

Recognition of professional qualifications

Speech by Prof. Mario Boidi (former President of the CFE) in the European Parliament
download here

Further information will be available soon.

Photos from the Professional Affairs Committee meeting in Brussels in April 2009: