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Internet-Based Trade and the Court of Justice: Different Sector, Different Attitude

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alan Littler
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Extract

E-commerce and information society services became part of the quotidian language of the European institutions in the mid-1990s, as the European institutions gazed into a crystal ball wherein electronic commerce would further the competitiveness of the internal market. Gradually increasing volumes of customers began to purchase goods and services via the internet, reflecting the development by undertakings of the internet as a sales channel and also due to the regulation of such transactions. Concurrently the internet can be characterised by its tendency to bring market actors closer together, and the case of DocMorris, concerning the sale of medicinal products via the internet, has been described as constituting an instance whereby the technological revolution which the internet embodies has “well and truly reached the doors” of the Court of Justice.

Type
Reports
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , March 2011 , pp. 78 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

1 European Commission, Europe's Way to the Information Society. An Action Plan, 19 July 1994, COM(94) 347 final.

2 For example, Council Directive 2000/31/EC of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (‘the Directive on electronic commerce’), which states in the Preamble in Recital 3 “Community law and the characteristics of the Community legal order are a vital asset to enable European citizens and operators to take full advantage, without consideration of borders, of the opportunities afforded by electronic commerce” whilst Recital 5 realises that “[t]he development of information society services within the Community is hampered by a number of legal obstacles to the proper functioning of the internal market which make less attractive the exercise of the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services; these obstacles arise from divergences in legislation…”.

3 Case C-322/01, Deutscher Apothekerverband eV v. 0800 DocMorris NV and Jacques Waterval [2003] ECR I-14887.

4 Richard Lang, “Case C-322/01, Deutscher Apothekerverband eV v. 0800 DocMorris NV and Jacques Waterval, judgment of the Full Court of 11 December 2003, nyr”, 42 Common Market Law Review (2005), pp. 189 et sqq., at p. 190.

5 Synergies thus prevail with the issues arising within the emerging field of ‘lifestyle risks’. See Planzer, Simon and Alemanno, Alberto, “Lifestyle Risks: Conceptualisation of an Emerging Category of Research”, 4 European Journal of Risk Regulation (2010), pp. 337 et sqq Google Scholar.

6 As such it will not be the objective of this report to assess whether the considerable deference to the Member States when regulating gambling is liable to unduly hinder the development of the internal market for this particular economic activity.

7 Case C-108/09, Ker-Optika v. ÀNTSZ Dél-dunántúli Regionális Intézete, judgment of the Third Chamber of 2 December 2010, nyr.

8 ÀNTSZ Dél-dunántúli Regionális Intézete.

9 Council Directive 2000/31 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (‘Directive on electronic commerce’), OJ 2000 L 178/1.

10 The Baranya megyei bíróság (county court of Baranya).

11 Ker-Optika, paras. 39–40.

12 See Ker-Optika, at para. 54 for how the Court views the internet as a means of providing non-domestic suppliers an opportunity to enter a market.

13 Ker-Optika, para. 59.

14 It should be borne in mind that in DocMorris the Court felt that the need to ensure that prescriptions are genuine was reason enough to restrict the sale of prescription-only medicines via the internet. See DocMorris, at para. 106.

15 Ker-Optika, para. 69.

16 DocMorris, para. 114.

17 Ker-Optika, para. 71.

18 Ker-Optika, para. 73.

19 DocMorris, para. 113.

20 In Ker-Optika the Court does not repeat the view aired in DocMorris that the internet offers improved access to the products in question given that it allows consumers to place their order from their home or office. However, the discourse at this part of the ruling in Ker-Optika was concerned with the provision of individualised information and advice rather than the ease of consumers being able to purchase contact lenses per se.

21 Case C-42/07, Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional, Bwin International Ltd v. Departamento de Jogos da Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa [2009] ECR I-7633, para. 57.

22 Case C-338/04, Criminal proceedings against Massimiliano Placanica [2007] ECR I-1891, para. 48.

23 Liga Portuguesa, para. 57.

24 In Liga Portuguesa the Portuguese court had not raised the issue of the chance of fraud against consumers, but rather, as several authors have criticised, this was assumed to be an objective by the Court. In this regard see Planzer, Simon, “Liga Portuguesa – the ECJ and its Mysterious Ways of Reasoning”, 11 European Law Reporter (November 2009), pp. 368 et sqq Google Scholar., at p. 370 and Franssen, Justin and Tolboom, Frank, “Practical Implications of the Santa Casa Judgment”, in Littler, Alan, Hoekx, Nele, Fijnaut, Cyrille and Verbeke, Alain-Laurent (eds), In the Shadow of Luxembourg: EU and National Developments in the Regulation of Gambling (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2010), p. 91 Google Scholar. The prevention of excessive gambling was of particular relevance in Cases C-243/01, Gambelli and others [2003] ECR I-13031 and C-338/04, Placanica [2007] ECR I-1891.

25 Littler, Alan, “Has the ECJ's Jurisprudence in the Field of Gambling Become More Restrictive when Applying the Proportionality Principle?”, in Littler, Alan and Fijnaut, Cyrille (eds), The Regulation of Gambling. European and National Perspectives (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007), p. 15 et sqq CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Doukas, Dimitrios and Anderson, Jack, “Commercial Gambling without Frontiers: When the ECJ Throws, the Dice is Loaded”, 27 Yearbook of European Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 237 et sqq Google Scholar., at p. 253. See also Morse, Edward, “Free Trade and Consumer Protection: Competing Interests in the Regulation of Internet Gambling”, European Journal of Consumer Law (2010), Vol. 2, pp. 289 et sqq., at p. 289Google Scholar.

27 Case C-67/98, Zenatti [1999] ECR I-7289 and Gambelli.

28 See, for example, Planzer, “Mysterious Ways of Reasoning”, supra note 24; Littler, “Gambling Regulation in the European Union: Recent Developments”, and Franssen and Tolboom, “Practical Implications”, both in Littler, Hoekx, Fijnaut and Verbeke (eds), In the Shadow of Luxembourg, supra note 24.

29 The Departamento de Jogos da Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa.

30 Liga Portuguesa, para. 68.

31 Incidentally, there is a lack of harmonisation in the supply of medical devices.

32 Liga Portuguesa, para. 69

33 Planzer, “Mysterious Ways of Reasoning”, supra note 24, at p. 372; Littler, “Recent Developments”, supra note 28, p. 15 et sqq.

34 Hoekx, Nele, “Noot: Kansspelen op het internet: heeft Bwin vs. Santa Casa de kaarten geschud?”, 6 Tijdschrift voor Consumentenrecht & Handelspraktijken (2009), pp. 249 et sqq., at p. 253Google Scholar.

35 Hoekx, “Kansspelen op het internet”, ibid., at p. 250.

36 Liga Portuguesa, para. 70.

37 Liga Portuguesa, para. 71.

38 In both DocMorris (paras. 103 and 124) and Ker-Optika (paras. 58–9) the Court justifies the measures in question on the grounds of protecting the health and life of humans as enshrined in Article 36 TFEU. In contrast overriding reasons in the public interest are relied upon in the gambling case-law, such as consumer protection as in Liga Portuguesa, para. 56.

39 See Planzer, “Mysterious Ways of Reasoning”, supra note 24 and Littler, “Recent Developments”, supra note 28.

40 Case C-46/08, Carmen Media Ltd v. Land Schleswig-Holstein and Innenminister des Landes Schleswig-Holstein, judgment delivered on 8 September 2010, nyr and Case C-316/07, Markus Stoß v. Wetteraukreis, judgment delivered on 8 September 2010, nyr.

41 Carmen Media, para. 62.

42 Liga Portuguesa, para. 102.

43 Carmen Media, para. 103.

44 See, for example, Jonsson, Jakob and Rönnberg, Sten, “Sweden”, in Meyer, Gerhard, Hayer, Tobias and Griffiths, Mark (eds), Problem Gambling in Europe: Challenges, Prevention and Interventions (New York: Springer, 2009), pp. 299 et sqq., at pp. 311–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

45 Markus Stoß, para. 81.

46 Markus Stoß, para. 82.

47 Markus Stoß, para. 86.

48 Case C0275/92, H.M. Customs and Excise v. Schindler [1994] ECR I-1039.