Erik Schouten is currently working as chairman of the Expert Group Pensions at the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Centraal Aanspreekpunt Pensioenen bij de Belastingdienst). Before that he was senior Tax Specialist Pensions and Account Manager Pension Funds at Belastingdienst Grote Ondernemingen (Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, Large Corporations) and member of the Expert Group Pension Funds. Previously he was Senior Policy Advisor Pensions at the Supervisory Policy Division at De Nederlandsche Bank (the Dutch central bank and supervisory authority). He contributed to the development of (international) pension fund regulations. He prepared for and participated in international meetings. Before that he was International Legal and Tax Consultant at Aegon Adfis. He was responsible for fiscal and legal support of Aegon and gave advice on international and cross-border pensions. He was responsible for informing and advising on relevant political developments, changes in laws and regulations and case law in the (international) pensions field. He was chairman of the Working Group Europe and member of the Working Group FATCA of the Dutch Association of Insurers. He was member of the Life Committee of Insurance Europe and member of the Expert Group on European Insurance Contract Law which advised the European Commission. Erik was previously employed by Fortis Employee Benefits Europe as European Legal and Fiscal Pensions Counsel and Fortis ASR Insurance as fiscal policy advisor. He regularly writes articles for journals, is (co-)author of several books on pensions and lectures at the VU University Amsterdam. Erik has studied economics at the University of Amsterdam. Further he successfully completed a postgraduate study Tax Law at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. In 2010 he graduated from VU University Amsterdam as a Certified Pension Consultant (postgraduate study Pension Law). On 12 November 2021 Erik successfully defended his PhD dissertation at VU University Amsterdam with the title "European tax law aspects of cross-border pensions, a study based on Dutch tax laws and regulations regarding employees and pension providers". Erik is a Netspar fellow and member of the Netspar Editorial Board (Netspar is the Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging and Retirement).