EUROMAT NEWS

EU AFFAIRS

27/10/11 – An opinion delivered by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate General, Pedro Cruz Villalon, stated that some elements of the Italian system of licences and authorisation for organising games of chance and gathering sports bets remain incompatible with EU law. Italy amended its legislation in 2006 after two previous ECJ rulings (i.e. the Gambelli and Placanica cases) took the view that Italian law infringed on the freedom to provide services and the freedom of establishment. The present opinion refers to the joint cases Costa (C-72/10) and Cifone (C-77/10) referred to the ECJ by the Italian Supreme Court of Appeal, which sought guidance from the ECJ on a number of the key-features of the new betting concessions. 

26/10/11 – The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted in plenary its non-legislative opinion on online gambling, which responds to the European Commission’s Green Paper consultation. In general, the EESC follows a very similar line to the proposals in the IMCO report. Amongst other things, the EESC proposes the creation of an “initial EU framework in the form of EU consumer protection legislation which is binding on operators licensed in the EU”. The EECS’ opinion will now be forwarded to the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament for consideration.