Swiss ‘justified’ in giving UBS bank data to US

A United States UBS bank client has failed in his bid to sue the Swiss authorities for handing his data to the US during a tax evasion row between the two countries. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said the economic interests of Switzerland outweighed his individual privacy. The Swiss bank client brought his case to Strasbourg after his file was handed to the US in 2012. He claimed that his right to family privacy had been broken, contravening article eight of the human rights convention. But judges threw the case out on Tuesday on the grounds that Switzerland was justified in protecting its economic interests. The US was threatening criminal action against UBS unless the data was transmitted, which could have jeopardized the future of Switzerland’s largest bank. Furthermore, the court noted that only the type of bank details that were handed over did not constitute personal information. And the client had been given the right to challenge the handover in ...