After years of appearing not to take on board mounting criticism of the U.S. tax evasion prevention law known as FATCA, which mandates that non-U.S. financial institutions provide personal data about their U.S. clients to U.S. officials on an annual basis, a European agency has told EU member states to consider a "review" of their international agreements "that involve international transfers of personal data, such as those relating to taxation (e.g. to the automatic exchange of personal data for tax purposes)."

The EU's Data Protection Board is to "again look into" the degree to which the processing and transferring of the personal data of European citizens to the U.S. by EU countries, in compliance with the U.S. tax evasion prevention law known as FATCA, could violate the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an EU official has said.

 Luxembourg's courts are "understood" to have asked the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) a number of questions relating to the validity of public registers of beneficial ownership, according to the latest statement on the subject of personal data security concerns issued by the London-based Mishcon de Reya law firm.

A "Working Paper" issued by the European Council on Sept. 11, four days before the European Data Protection Board was due to meet to discuss how the EU should best prepare to participate in the worldwide move towards ever-greater automatic exchange of information, is being seen by some observers as an indication of the willingness of EU governments to take measures behind the scenes aimed at quietly ensuring a consistent pan-EU data protection message that also fits in with their "Realpolitik" objectives – including avoiding a public, political showdown with the U.S. over FATCA.