The AIG applauds the Commission decision to refer France to the European Court of Justice concerning cross-border advertising and sponsorship restrict

The AIG strongly supports the aim of Commissioner Bolkestein, expressed in DG MARKT's "Communication on an Internal Market Strategy for Services" of January 2001, to "allow services to move across national borders as easy as within a Member State". The AIG and its members have consistently argued that the Internal Market for advertising has still to be achieved, due to the existence of numerous national barriers that have not yet been removed.

National advertising bans or restrictions such as the "Loi Evin", set up with the laudable aim of defending public health, do not attain their objective. Since the entry into force of this law in France, alcohol advertising expenditure has significantly decreased whereas teenagers' alcohol consumption has grown.

The AIG hopes that the ECJ will be able to take into account in its future deliberations:

1. Advocate General Jacobs' Opinion in the Leclerc-Siplec Case (C-412/93) "Without advertising it would be extremely difficult for a manufacturer located in one Member State to penetrate the market in another Member State where his products have not previously been sold and so enjoy no reputation among consumers. Thus measures that prohibit or severely restrict advertising tend inevitably to protect domestic manufacturers and to disadvantage manufacturers located in other Member Sates. Such measures prevent the interpenetration of markets and are inimical to the very concept of the Single Market",
2. Its judgment of March 2001, on the Gourmet Case (C-405/98). The Court expressed strong doubts on the proportionality of the alcohol advertising ban in the defence of public health. It suggested that the same effect could be ensured by other measures, having less effect on Internal Market trade.

The AIG totally supports this Commission action and hopes that it will be a stepping stone towards the completion of the Internal Market for advertising.

Notes to editors:

1. The Advertising Information Group (AIG) is a grouping of tripartite trade associations of the European advertising sector in Austria, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, and the UK as well as of European print, poster and broadcast media.