Judith Jansen entered into debate with Martijn Snoep, Chairman of the ACM, at the VvM Spring meeting on April 18. Judith argued that as a result of the Dutch Supreme Court's ruling in the Stibbe/OM case, the ACM's approach to the right to legal privilege should be adjusted.
According to Judith, it should not be possible for supervisory officials of the ACM to inspect confidential correspondence between the client and lawyer. Not even by “cursory inspection” of these data, as the ACM Procedure regarding the legal professional privilege of lawyers allows. This in fact constitutes a violation of the right to legal privilege and may seriously prejudice the rights of defense. Also at odds with the recent ruling is the role of the ACM's privilege officer - who, in the event of discussion about the privileged nature of certain information, assesses whether the information privileged or not.
Martijn Snoep announced that the ACM will not change the role of privilege officer for the time being, but that the powers of ACM employees in the current mode of operation to “cursory inspect” potentially privileged information will be adjusted before the summer.
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