Introduction
The French Constitutional Court was requested to answer a priority constitutional question (QPC) by the French State Council (Order number 400913) on 22 July 2016.
The QPC was asked by Mrs Helen S as to the constitutionality of the second line of Article 1649 AB of the French tax code, as amended by Act number 2013-1117 of 6 December 2013, relating to the fight against tax fraud and high profile economic and social criminality.
In its Decision number 2016-591 QPC of 21 October 2016, the French Constitutional Court ruled in favour of Mrs Helen S’s QPC and declared the second line of Article 1649 AB of the French tax code unconstitutional, as of the date of the publication of its decision, 23 October 2016.
The second line of Article 1649 AB of the French tax code, as amended by Act number 2013-1117 of 6 December 2013, introduced a public trust registry in France.
Even though the French Constitutional Court did consider that second line to be unconstitutional, it did not consider the public trust registry to be unconstitutional in itself, but rather the lack of limitations as to the persons allowed to consult the registry and the lack of consideration given to the privacy.