Commercial curbs look set to avoid penalty

Date: 11/06/1998

By Peter Chapman

EU LAWYERS are recommending that the French and Greek governments should not be taken to court over two high-profile cases involving alleged breaches of single market laws.

EU sources said this week that the European Commission's legal service had signalled its opposition to action against France over its 1991 Loi Evin, which restricts the televising of sports events featuring alcoholic drinks advertisements both inside and outside France.

They said Commission lawyers also favoured giving Greece the benefit of the doubt over a 1994 ban on advertising toys on national television.

The EU alcoholic drinks industry, led by the UK-based Amsterdam Group, argues that Loi Evin illegally hinders the marketing plans of firms outside French territory.

But the Commission legal service has apparently come down in support of a code of conduct launched by the French Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisual.

This code states that the law will be applied to 'bilateral' events involving a French team and targeted mainly at the French market, but effectively exempts 'multilateral events' which would be broadcast across the Union, including France.

One drinks industry legal adviser claimed the code added nothing but legal uncertainty to the situation and insisted that France should still face court action.

“The main effect of it is to make sponsors uncertain. If people are unsure about the legal situation, then they will not put large sums of money into sponsorship,” she said.

She also pointed out that the code itself failed to achieve Loi Evin's objective of protecting the health of French consumers because it allowed broadcasts of 'multilateral events' to enter France without any restriction.

Meanwhile, Toy Industries of Europe (TIE) adviser Stephan Luiten said his organisation would join forces with advertising groups from across the EU to lobby Commissioners and their aides in a last attempt to convince them that the Greek toy law was a blatant breach of single market rules on the free movement of goods.

Commission President Jacques Santer is believed by many, including Luiten, to have been responsible for stalling legal action over health and social issues in the aftermath of the BSE crisis.

“The legal service always seems to find a new angle to block the case that has nothing to do with the legal questions,” claimed Luiten.

Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti's officials, who favour court action, are urging their boss to stand firm in the run-up to next week's infringements meeting.

But industry insiders fear the Commissioner may be willing to let France and Greece off the hook if it means he can make progress in some of the 2,000-plus other outstanding infringement cases.

“There are so many of these that the decision to take legal action or not happens in a couple of seconds. If there is a big debate over one or two cases, it can hold things up,” said one drinks industry lawyer.