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The Court of Appeal, agreeing with the conclusions of the Administrative Court, has rejected claims that HMRC breached s.18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005, or violated rights under the ECHR, by giving an off the record briefing with journalists, at which certain information about the promoters of controversial film schemes had been disclosed. The disclosures were limited, they were factually correct, they did not involve truly private information, and they were made for a legitimate purpose i.e. the purpose of raising the total amount of tax revenue. It was legitimate for HMRC to wish to convey to the public its scepticism about certain tax avoidance schemes.

The full judgment is available here: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2015/173.html

James Eadie QC and David Pievsky acted for HMRC.

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