The European Betting & Gaming Association (EGBA) has backed the European court following the ruling concerning the EU notification requirements for draft gambling legislation.
The organization has reiterated the importance of the EU notification procedure when member states introduce or amend their national gambling regulations.
According to EGBA, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) “has consistently upheld that draft national gambling regulations which constitute “technical regulations” under EU law must be notified to the European Commission through the Technical Regulation Information System (TRIS) procedure.”
It has been highlighted that a recent ruling by the Court found that failure to notify the Commission of any amendments that extend the scope of existing national laws could render such provisions unenforceable against gambling operators.
Importance of processes is stressed by EGBA
Within the statement, EGBA states this isn’t merely a procedural formality but “a fundamental safeguard to ensure that national gambling laws comply with EU law.” It reiterates that if the TRIS procedure is ignored, this will result in regulatory failure.
“Proper notification of draft gambling regulations to the European Commission is essential for good policy making and to allow for any proposed changes to national gambling frameworks to be scrutinised for their compatibility with EU law,” said Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of EGBA.
“The TRIS notification procedure facilitates transparency and allows for potential EU law compatibility issues to be identified before national regulations take effect.”
With the gambling industry constantly evolving, the consistent application of the TRIS notification procedure is stressed as being increasingly important.
The reasonings behind this are said to be because it supports ‘member states in developing effective, proportionate gambling regulations that achieve their public policy objectives while remaining compatible with EU law.’
“An effective TRIS procedure also relies on the European Commission to actively scrutinise all incoming notifications, which it has not been doing consistently in recent years.
“We’re confident, however, that the new Commission’s emphasis on the enforcement of EU law will lead to it stepping up its efforts to ensure draft national gambling laws are adequately scrutinised for their compatibility with EU law,” added Mr. Haijer.
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
