The very formation of the European Union was necessitated by the domination of the U.S. trade practices and economic sanctions over the countries “down under”.    The power of U.S. dollar in world trade was an eye-sore for many of them and made them united to show stiff resistance and opposition to such a tendency.  The entire episode was taken with a pinch of salt and eventually all those national leaders, who had voiced their concerns over the developments, converged to work out a plan to counter the aggression of a single nation.

The European Union was born, ostensibly to promote the economic welfare of the member nations, whereas the real purpose easily guessed by the world at large was a show-down of power against the U.S. domination.  Invariably, repeated attempts were made to devaluate the U.S. currency against its counterparts of all the nations and the member nations succeeded in their attempts to invent the “Euro”.  The exchange markets for foreign currencies since then have been stabilized more or less and “Euro” has come to stay in the financial markets of many countries as a viable alternative to U.S. dollar.

On the other fronts of world trade and commercial transactions within the member nations of the European Union, the consensus was arrived at, that any attempt to thwart the fair and equitable trade practices between member countries should be condemned and opposed vehemently.  To oversee the administration and smooth conduct of bilateral relationships on all subjects including trade and commercial practices, the European Union Law was enacted which had jurisdiction over the 27 core participant countries and prevailed upon the law of these individual nations. By this law, the European Common Market is strengthened as one and trades and services of inter-borders should go on smoothly without any hitch whatsoever. 

It is in this context the recent enactment of a German Law, which came into force from 1st January 2008, was taken exception to.  According to the law enforcing agencies of Germany the law prohibits operation of online gambling activities and betting online on any games, excepting horse racing.  The online gambling industry leaders and associations feel that they have been let down by a member country through this unforeseen curtailment of their activities.

The matter has been taken up to the European Union by the Online Gambling Industry leaders to resolve the issue.  They have submitted that the German law contravenes the EU law inasmuch as it curtails cross-border competition on gambling, which is against the very object of the European Union being formed.  The European Court of Justice will hear further proceedings after formal notices are sent to the German law authorities.