Facts
The Federal Supreme Court decided on an appeal by the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) against an interim decision of the Federal Administrative Court. The issue was whether the [X.] Foundation should be granted access to all files of the administrative assistance proceedings, in particular the names and contact details of the employees of the requesting Korean authority (National Tax Service, NTS). The FTA had provided administrative assistance to the NTS regarding the [X.] Foundation and transmitted the relevant information and documents. The [X.] Foundation then filed a complaint with the Federal Administrative Court. The court granted the [X.] Foundation's request for access to the files and rejected the FTA's application for partial restriction of access to the files. The FTA then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court stated that the right to access files is part of the constitutional right to be heard. For federal administrative proceedings and the subsequent appeal proceedings, Articles 26-28 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) specify this right. The Federal Supreme Court concluded that Art. 14 para. 1 of the Tax Administrative Assistance Act (TAAA) does not restrict access to files in the appeal proceedings. Rather, Art. 15 TAAA grants the…