Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-14-Speech-2-399"
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"en.20061114.39.2-399"2
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"Mr President, gambling services are clearly services within the scope of the Treaty, and Treaty principles, including those on the freedom of establishment and the freedom of services, apply to gambling. The Commission has an obligation to ensure that Member States’ legislation is fully compatible with the Treaty. Therefore the Commission decided in April to ask seven Member States for more information on their legislation that restricts the supply of sports betting services. The Commission has responded to a number of complaints from operators in the sports betting area.
Having met with the authorities of all seven Member States, my services are now examining the formal replies received from each. At this stage I cannot pre-empt the outcome of that examination. I should like to inform Parliament that I expect that to be completed in the next few weeks. Based on that examination I would put forward a proposal to the college of Commissioners on how to proceed. It would then be a matter for them to decide on the next steps.
In addition to the seven cases opened in April, the Commission decided, on 12 October, to send formal requests for information related to the gambling sector to three other Member States. Complaints from operators, to which the Commission is responding, relate mainly to sports betting services. That is why nine of the ten cases opened so far related to the provision of sports betting services, some of them online. However, in October the Commission also enquired about national legislation in Austria, which prohibits advertisements from casinos licensed and operating in other Member States. We also have concerns that Austrian legislation requires national casinos to protect only nationals from excessive losses, without having similar protection for foreign players.
As guardian of the Treaty, the Commission will examine all complaints that it receives. However, at the same time I do not underestimate the sensitivities that exist in many Member States on the question of gambling. Member States are fully entitled to protect general interest objectives, such as the protection of consumers. However those measures must be necessary, proportionate and non-discriminatory. In particular, they must be applied to national and non-national operators in a systematic and consistent way.
The Commission does not seek to liberalise the market in any way, but rather to be assured that whatever measures Member States have in place are fully compatible with existing EU law. Member States are well aware of the case law of the European Court of Justice, which I expect will develop further.
The Commission accepted Parliament’s request to exclude all gambling services from the scope of the draft Services Directive. It was made quite clear to me at that time that the regulation of gambling should be left to the Member States. I fully agree, provided that such national legislation is compatible with the Treaty. In the context of the infringement proceedings I am willing to work in close cooperation with the Member States to ensure compatibility of national legislation with Community requirements and allow for appropriate and effective protection to be put in place, for example to safeguard consumers and to protect minors."@en1
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