Commission wins case against Fifa to uphold member states' right to free-view sports

The European Commission has welcomed the EU’s General Court's (formerly Court of First Instance) ruling today confirming that individual Member States have discretion under EU law to decide which sporting events are of major importance for their public and so should be available on free-to-view television. The rulings concerned an appeal by on FIFA and UEFA against a Commission decision to approve lists of football matches to be available on free-to-view television submitted by Belgium and the United Kingdom. FIFA and UEFA sought the annulment before the Court of First Instance of the decision of the Commission approving the list of events submitted by Belgium and the UK. FIFA and UEFA argued that the whole final tournament cannot be considered as an event of major importance. Conversely, the Commission argued that the final tournament of the FIFA World Cup is quoted in the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive itself as an example of event of major importance. The EC also argued that there is a wide margin of discretion for each Member States to decide which event is of major importance for its own society. The Court found that the Commission acted correctly in approving the lists of events of UK and Belgium. Consequently, FIFA’s and UEFA’s actions were dismissed. Both Belgium and the United Kingdom had submitted lists including the whole final tournament of the FIFA Football World Cup (i.e.64 football matches) and the UK's list also included all the UEFA European Football Championship (EURO - i.e. 31 matches). Under the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive (Article 14), Member States can draw up a list of events of major importance for their general public and take measures to ensure that these events (like the Olympic Games) are accessible on free-to-view television. These lists can be submitted to the European Commission for approval in order to get recognition in other Member States. At present, the lists in 8 Member States have been approved by the Commission (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and United Kingdom). The Court rulings (found that the Member States' decisions to consider that all of the matches of those competitions are of major importance for society are compatible with the relevant provisions of EU law. The Court found that ‘prime’ and ‘gala’ matches, and non-prime matches, could be considered of major importance for the UK and Belgian societies and can therefore be included in a national list specifying the events to which the public should be able to have access on free television. In particular, the Court ruled that in the absence of harmonisation in the European Union of specific events which Member States may consider to be of major importance for society, a number of different approaches concerning the inclusion of the World Cup and EURO matches in a national list may be compatible with the AVMS Directive.