About

Prof. Dr. Carlos E. Weffe is a lawyer, graduated from the Andrés Bello Catholic University of Caracas, Venezuela (1997); a specialist in Tax Law, graduated from the Central University of Venezuela (2003); a Doctor of Law, graduated from the Central University of Venezuela (2014) and a Bachelor of Law, graduated from the International University of La Rioja (2024). He currently works as an Assistant Professor attached to the Area of ​​Financial and Tax Law of the Department of Public Law of the Faculty of Legal and Economic Sciences of the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón, Spain. Simultaneously, Prof. Dr. Weffe is Head, ad honorem, of the Tax Abuse Unit of the Corporate Crime Observatory, an international platform established by independent academics and experts from different countries dedicated to promoting the analysis and discussion of the main problems of corporate and economic crime at a global level, based in the United Kingdom.

Previously, Prof. Dr. Weffe served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Financial and Tax Law at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in Barcelona, ​​Spain, where he developed a line of research in Taxation and Artificial Intelligence. Between 2018 and 2022, Weffe was in charge of the scientific coordination of the  (IBFD Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights), an initiative dedicated to monitoring and academic reflection on the state of protection of taxpayers’ rights at a global level, as well as in charge of academic research in general in his role as senior research associate attached to the Academic Department of International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD), a global research center on international taxation based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. From 2016 to 2017, Weffe was a postdoctoral researcher at the IBFD, studying procedural safeguards applicable to the exchange of information between tax administrations.

Prof. Dr. Weffe has extensive teaching experience in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. He has been accredited by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of the Ministry of Universities of Spain (ANECA) as a Associate Professor in the Spanish university system. Dr. Weffe is currently an Associate Professor (on leave of absence) of the Chair of “Public Finance” (Financial and Tax Law) at the School of Law of the Central University of Venezuela (Caracas, Venezuela), where he served as Head of the Chair from 2010 to 2016. Weffe is also an Instructor (Lecturer) of the Summer Course on Platforms and Tax Information Reporting at the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

In the same sense, Weffe was Instructor (Lecturer) of the Advanced Master’s Program in International Tax Law of the IBFD and the University of Amsterdam (IBFD-UvA Advanced Master’s Programme: “International Tax Law: Principles, Policy and Practice”) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, professor of “Human Rights and Taxation” in the Doctorate course in Law of the Central University of Venezuela and in the Degree in Law of the School of Law of the Monteávila University (Caracas, Venezuela). He has been a professor of Tax Criminal Law, Tax Procedural Law, International Tax Law, and Constitutional and Administrative Law in the specialization and master’s courses in Tax Law at Strathmore University (Nairobi, Kenya), the University of Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa), the Central University of Venezuela, the Metropolitan University (Caracas, Venezuela), the ‘Fermín Toro’ University (Barquisimeto, Venezuela), and the Catholic University of Táchira (San Cristóbal, Venezuela). He has also taught in the Master’s Degree in Public Management at the Institute of Higher Studies in Administration (IESA) in Caracas, Venezuela.

Prof. Dr. Weffe is a member of the Latin American Institute of Tax Law (ILADT). He has served as a representative of Venezuela (2014-2016) and Panama (2018-present) on the Board of Directors of this institution. He is currently a member of the Panamanian Association of Financial and Tax Law (APADEFT) and of the Mexican Academy of Tax Law (AMDF), an institution in which he served as Coordinator of the International Tax Law Committee of its National Board of Directors (2021-2023). In the past, Weffe was a member of the Brazilian Institute of Tax Law (IBDT) and of the Venezuelan Association of Tax Law (AVDT). At the latter institution, he was a member of its Board of Directors (2007-2009 and 2011-2017), as well as coordinator of the Tax Criminal Law Committee (2008-2010).

He has been an academic peer reviewer for World Tax Journal (Netherlands) and CIVITAS, Spanish Journal of Financial Law (Spain), and is a member of the Editorial Board of the “Vía Tributaria” Collection of the Universidad Panamericana (Mexico), the Electronic Journal of Research and Legal Advice of the National Assembly (Venezuela), the Journal of the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University ‘Andrés Bello’ (Venezuela) and the Journal “Derecho y Sociedad” of the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences of the University ‘Monteávila’ (Venezuela).

As of February 2025, Prof. Dr. Weffe is the author of four solo books and more than seventy other publications, including peer-reviewed and non-reviewed articles and book chapters, on Tax Law, Constitutional Tax Law, Criminal Tax Law, Tax Procedural Law, Constitutional Law, Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory, published both in the Americas and in Europe. His book Garantismo y Derecho Penal Tributario en Venezuela was awarded the 2011 Annual Prize of the Academy of Political and Social Sciences of Venezuela, the most important legal research award in the country. Two of his teaching projects at the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences of the Central University of Venezuela, one on tax fraud in VAT and the other on the relationship between criminal law and tax law in the area of ​​formal guarantees in the exchange of information between tax authorities, were awarded Honorable Mentions by the Jury. His academic work has also received two Honorable Mentions (in 2004 and 2005) from the Marco Ramírez Murzi Award, granted by the Venezuelan Association of Tax Law for excellence in academic research in tax law. As part of his academic work, he has given numerous lectures in America, Europe and Africa.

In his professional practice, Prof. Dr. Weffe was a partner at AWG Abogados, an associate director at Deloitte Venezuela, Tax Manager at Coca-Cola FEMSA de Venezuela, S.A., a lawyer at AndersenLegal Venezuela, and a lawyer at Tinoco, Travieso, Planchart & Núñez in his native Venezuela. In the field of Public Administration, he was Legal Manager of the Tax Administration Directorate of the Chacao Municipality in the State of Miranda (Venezuela), and a lawyer at the Municipalities of Libertador (Federal District, Venezuela) and Chacao (Miranda State, Venezuela). He was also an external legal advisor to the Municipal Council of Chacao, and to the Municipalities of Baruta and Chacao (Caracas, Venezuela). Prof. Dr. Weffe also has experience as a commercial arbitrator at the Business Centre for Conciliation and Arbitration (CEDCA), and has served as an expert witness on tax matters in international investment arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

Prof. Dr. Weffe is fluent in Spanish, English, and Portuguese and has an intermediate level of German.