EU: Foot-dragging over Greek case

There has been yet another procedural delay in the processing of the complaint to the Commission about the Greek toy ad ban. Following the abortive 12 March meeting to consider the infringements actions, the British Toy and Hobby Association has written to Lord Simon, the UK minister for trade and competitiveness in Europe. The letter makes a strong protest against the repeated failure of the European Commissioners to take action on what is now accepted by all parties to be a breach in the EU’s regulations governing free movement of goods and services within the Union. The College of Commissioners met on 12 March to consider the Greek ban, with the expected outcome of referring the matter to the European Court of Justice. However, the Commissioners again set the issue aside, this time on the basis that the Legal Services of the Commission needed more evidence concerning the Greek toy market. This case has now been hindered by the Legal Services on various different pretexts for more than three years, and, according to Peter Waterman, who signed the letter to Lord Simon on behalf of the Association, “our industry has supplied all of the evidence which has been requested over that period of time.” He added that he believed that this further delay in the consideration of the case was a deliberate means of avoiding taking the appropriate decision, and that “this leaves industries like ours believing that there is no genuine intention on the part of the European authorities to enforce Single Market rules.”