European Commision Threatens France with Legal Action

The European Commission has threatened to take legal action against France if the country does not change their laws banning foreign gambling advertisements. In addition to the proposed legal action against France, The European Commission also says demanded Sweden ends limitations placed on sports gambling services.

In their complaints the European Commission complained that the two are responsible for disallowing companies based in other European countries from doing business there. Greece was issued a warning, and directed to that Athens must provide more information verifying that their rules are with EU acceptability.

The commission gave each effected country 2 months within which they must make all required changes effectively bringing their regulations up to par with EU law, if the demands are not met, the European Commission will take legal action seeking a court ruling that will force the change, or hold financial consequences, such as fines.

Spokespersons from the commission stated that they were acting on several complaints made by industry service providers and has initiated legal action against ten nations in total. To date, both Italy and Austria have responded positively.

In March of this year (2007) the European Commission threatened suits against Hungary, Denmark and Finland, in addition to investigations into the Netherlands and Germany.