Romania Latest in EU to Have Online Gambling Proposal Rejected

October 08, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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The European Commission has recently rejected the proposed online gambling regulation bill that has come out of Romania. The reason for rejection is that the proposed law does not comply with European Union law. If Romania does not change the proposed law, they will not be allowed to implement it, without going against the European Commission, and leaving themselves open to infringement proceedings.

The Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), Sigrid Ligné, commented on the European Commission's ruling as follows: "EGBA welcomes the Romanian government's willingness to reform its online gaming and betting market. However, EGBA notes that Romania is the third country in the last 12 months to receive a detailed opinion from the European Commission and will have, as in the case of Denmark and Poland, to re-notify and adjust its draft legislation."

The EGBA pointed out some of the problematic points in the proposed Romanian legislation:

• The draft bill states that online gambling companies, even though they are licensed in the EU, must have their servers located in Romania if they wish to offer their online gambling sites to Romanians.
  
  
• The draft bill states that the online gambling companies wishing to offer their wares to Romanians must be established in Romania.
  
  
• The draft bill implies that EU online gambling companies, which are not authorized in Romania, will be prohibited from marketing and advertising their activities in Romania.
  
  
• The draft bill excluded pool betting, without justifying this decision. All other forms of online gambling would be allowed, except for pool betting.

The European Commission, and all the European Union member states received notification of the draft bill on July 2nd of this year. The European Commission's detailed opinion notes that the legislation cannot be adopted until the standstill period is over, on November 3rd, 2010. The European Commission expects that Romania will adjust their draft legislation to fall in line with the EU guidelines. If not, they may begin infringement proceedings.

Ligné had the following to say: "While we support Romania's legitimate wish to regulate its online gaming market, it is important from a consumer protection perspective that national gambling policies are consistent."

"As confirmed by the ECJ in its recent rulings, there are less restrictive means than forced establishment to monitor and control the online gaming and betting market."