Is Sweden in Breach of EC Law

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) is bolstering up their biting comments on the report issued by the Swedish Ministry of Finance over the gambling marketing in Sweden, also known as the Nyren report, which is now expired.

The report which was first filed in December 2008 stressed the importance of "long term gaming regulations" yet lacked any basis or road map on how to achieve that goal. Even the Swedish Finance Minister admitted that "it was difficult to see a way forward from here."

EC Law Breach
The European Community (EC) is a pillar of the European Union (EU) and is where the European Court of Justice has the most power.

The EC law concerns the social and economic foundations of any single market and establishes the rules for the free movement of goods in the common market and has strict laws concerning any monopolization of any one market.

Sweden, it seems, has been in breach of EC law since 2006. From 2006 to January 2008, the European Commission has sent repeated notices regarding Sweden's protectionist gaming legislature, which restricts cross-border poker services.

Possible Repercussions
The EGBA claims the Nyren report is fundamentally flawed to begin with as it assumes Sweden is following the EC laws in the first place.

Sigrid Ligné, the EGBA Secretary General states, "none of the Nyren recommendations would help to ensure a level playing field for all European operators and meet the requirements of the EC Treaty. We urge the Commission to bring Sweden to the European Court of Justice."

So far however, nothing has changed and as we can see since 2006, it's very unlikely to.