Pieter Omtzigt about FSV - blacklists - and the devastating effects

Mr. Omtzigt (Member Omtzigt)

May 28, 2023 in the House of Representatives

The following is one of the most comprehensive excerpts from the sources directly attributed to Mr. Omtzigt, from a Parliamentary debate on the Tax Administration's Fraud Signaling Facility (FSV) report:

‍Mr. Omtzigt (Member Omtzigt) :Thank you, Chairman.

Today, we are talking about a low point in the Dutch rule of law. For years, the tax authorities have blacklisted hundreds of thousands of citizens and companies. Those citizens were not allowed to know why they were on that. They did have serious legal consequences as a result. Thousands of people were unable to get into debt counseling and lived on the margins for years, not knowing why that happened. More than two and a half years after switching off, hundreds of thousands of people have not been informed yet.

When will companies be informed?

No apologies were offered either. The costs of the recovery operations are unknown.

It is also not yet known with whom the data from the FSV was shared.

It is still being investigated which specific groups have been discriminated against.

No remedial measures have been taken.(Continuation of another paragraph from the same source later in the debate):

‍On the one hand, we have the taxpayer. He is considered a fraud. He is not told that he is classified as a fraud. His file is sometimes shared with the UWV and sometimes with the municipality. He is not told whether it is shared with the UWV or the municipality. Citizens are severely disadvantaged and have no way to get justice.

On the other hand, we have the perfect accident.

Things happen, like we're in some kind of haunted house. There will be lists. There is a Breedkamer.

There is a manual.

Summary of Pieter Omtzigt's text

Mr. Omtzigt sees the situation surrounding the Fraud Signaling Facility (FSV) as a low point in the Dutch rule of law.

Criticism of FSV and Consequences

His main criticisms and observations include:

• Black Lists and Invisibility: For years, the tax authorities have blacklisted hundreds of thousands of citizens and companies (FSV). These citizens did not know why they were on the list.
• Serious Legal Effects: The registration had serious legal consequences. Thousands of people were able to not getting into debt counseling and lived on the margins for years. Omtzigt knows people whose lives have been turned upside down and whose businesses have been destroyed, caused by this invisible force (black lists) that fights against them.
• Fundamental Rights and Privacy: He wonders why the government wants to humiliate citizens and does not take their fundamental rights into account. The Data Protection Authority (AP) has found that no guarantees, guarantees, governance or supervision were, and called it the mother of privacy violations.
• Incorrect Data: Manuals used texts that should never have appeared in them. The FSV contained incorrect and unupdated personal data, and the tax authorities did not take the necessary measures to rectify or delete them.

Information and Recovery

Omtzigt points to serious shortcomings in the handling of the scandal:

• Lack of Information: More than two and a half years after the FSV was shut down in February 2020, hundreds of thousands of people have not been informed yet. He asks when companies and legal entities will be informed.
• Unknown Data Sharing: The costs of the recovery operations are unknown, and it is still not known with whom the FSV data was shared. Sharing information from the FSV was not limited to functional group mailboxes, but included employee business and even private email boxes. He insists that he would like a further and complete investigation wants to share data about companies, entrepreneurs and legal entities that were blacklisted.
• No Excuses: No apologies were offered.
• Citizen's legal position: The citizen, who is severely disadvantaged and is sometimes classified as a fraud, has no way to get justice. Omtzigt denounces that a taxpayer sometimes has to prove damage without being able to see his file.

Culture and Future

With regard to culture and governance within the tax authorities:

• Lack of Responsibility: Omtzigt notes a culture at the tax authorities where, in case of errors, “no one did that”. There are guides that have not been written by anyone and lists that have not been compiled by anyone.
• Adoption of Decisions: He calls for better recording of management decisions to prevent future accidents. He asks that the retention period for management minutes/summaries (which is now five years) be extended to at least ten years and no less than twenty years, so that the reconstruction of events remains possible. The Secretary of State promised to look into this in connection with the Archives Act and the improvement of privacy legislation.
• New System (TSV): He asks the Secretary of State to share the correspondence with the Data Protection Authority (AP) about the new system, the TSV (Temporary Provision), with the House. This is because the AP has already indicated that recommendations from the FSV Data Protection Officer have not been adopted.

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