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Florida, USA and Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government has asked a court in Miami, Florida to reject demands by US tax authorities that Swiss bank UBS turn over information on 52,000 clients of the bank who are US citizens. The Swiss government says its amicus curiae brief explains its legal position: that the John Doe “fishing expedition” request flies in the face of international law and would oblige the Swiss bank to break Swiss law.

The government notes that the filing does not involve it, however, as a party in the case, but rather allows it to state its position, following US procedural law.

The US tax collector, the IRS, in February asked the bank to supply information on 52,000 clients it suspects of undeclared investments and tax evasion worth several billion dollars. The bank had earlier provided information on at least 250 clients in cases the Swiss bank surveillance body agreed involved fraud, after UBS acknowledged helping some clients hide their assets. The bank paid a $780 million fine.

Bern notes in a press release that negotiations for a new tax treaty between the two governments, which opened 28 April in Bern, could be at risk if the IRS request is allowed to go ahead. “Switzerland is . . . concerned that the pending civil court proceeding against UBS might prejudice the successful conclusion of these negotiations and jeopardize ratification of the new Treaty.”

The 30 April brief was filed shortly after UBS itself filed papers making a similar argument, in Miami (brief is available in English on the UBS site).

Bern argues that efforts by the IRS to force the Swiss bank to hand over confidential client information would infringe on Swiss sovereignty. “In its brief, the Swiss government also points out that an attempt to force UBS to hand over client data would violate Swiss sovereignty since the information in question is located in Switzerland. Furthermore, such an attempt might force UBS to violate Swiss law. Finally, the Swiss government emphasizes that no other state would hand over data on that scale and in that way.”

Related: Le Temps, Tribune de Geneve, TSR, all in French and Bloomberg, Financial Times , Reuters