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Proposed Polish Legislation Against EU Law
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19-Jun-2007, 10:42
According to the Office of the Committee for European Integration (UKIE), the act project on games of chance, banning offering gambling games on the internet, is against the EU law. The Ministry of Finance denies and announces further consultations on the matter.
UKIE recognized the project is illegal as it limits the freedom of providing a service from one of the member states via electronic means.
‘Serious doubts (…) are raised by article no. 3a of the act project. By the force of this act organizing games and pari-mutuel bets on the internet will be entirely banned; but this regulation suggest as well, that this limit covers not only entities with premises on the Polish territory or other member state, whose offer is targeted at clients on the Polish territory, but also entities on the Polish territory, who provide such services for clients residing in other members state.’ – UKIE says in the decision justification.
According to the Office, bearing in mind the decisions of the European Court of Justice, the ban is discrimination-featured and is a too radical way to limit such kind of services, especially with the existence of a state monopoly. The ban could exist only when there were a complete ban on organizing games and bets in Poland.
The Office points out as well the act amendment will probably undergo a notification procedure to the European Commission. This procedure can be a serious obstacle, as already in March the European Commission criticized a project of a similar regulation in Germany.
The finance department spokesperson Jakub Lutyk said, this opinion to the project has been submitted during the latest reconciliation conference. The project is currently in the interdepartmental consultation phase.
‘We still keep our standpoint, that the project is in accordance with the EU law. It has been analyzed by lawyers from the Ministry of Finance. We will be consecutively agreeing a standpoint on this matter. Further reconciliation conferences are planned, most probably next week.’ – the spokesperson said.
Earlier the fact of project unlawfulness with the EU law was pointed out by the Globalization Institute, that is a private free-market civil issues institute established in 2005. The organisation conducts researches on competition, environment protection, healthcare and globalization. The amendment of the games of chance and pari-mutuel bets specifies as well, that the income from so-called extra charges for games of chance would be higher by 200 – 220 million zloty a year and would reach about 800 million zloty. The income is to be spent on, inter alia, construction of the National Sports Centre in Warsaw, with a modern football stadium instead of the current ‘Stadion 10-lecia’.