§ Mr. CorbettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will summarise the outcome of the Schindler case concerning the United Kingdom's ban on EC lotteries before the European Court of Justice, and its practical effects. [25763]
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerThe judgment in the Schindler case was delivered by the European Court of Justice on 24 March 1994.
The court found that the importation of lottery advertisements and tickets into a member state relates to a service within the meaning of the treaty of Rome and that the UK lotteries legislation is an obstacle to the freedom to provide this service. However, the court also 653W found that the aims of the UK legislation were to protect the users of the service as well as consumers generally and social order, and that such aims justified the restrictions on the freedom to provide services.
The practical effect of the judgment has been the continued ability of the UK to ban advertising and promotion of lotteries not permitted by our legislation, including those operating in other member states, under section 2 of the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976.