The Supreme Court said several rulings in the European Court of Justice have brought Sweden’s Lottery Law into doubt, and that the Court of Appeal needs to test whether the Lottery Law, which bans advertising by foreign gambling companies, is compatible with Articles 12, 43 and 49 of the EC treaty.
During the past four years, both the Chief Editor of Aftonbladet and Expressen have been fighting for the right to appeal against the verdict of the District Court, that found the papers and their editors guilty of breaching the lottery law by accepting advertisements from foreign gaming operators.

Last month, the current editor of Aftonbladet, Kalle Jungkvist addressed Charlie McCreevy, the EU Internal Markets Commissioner, calling on him to take action against Sweden in order to bring its lottery law into compliance with its obligations under the EC treaty.

Aftonbladet and Expressen have always denied any law breaking, arguing that the country’s ban on advertising by foreign gambling companies is incompatible with Article 12 of the EC Treaty which prohibits discrimination on grounds of nationality.

The Supreme Administrative Court, the Court of Appeal and the District Court had previously refused to test the country’s lottery law against EC law. The decision of the Supreme Court for the first time takes into consideration developments in EC law including the Placanica case of 2007, which found Italian legislation to be inconsistent with Article 49 of the EC treaty’s freedom to provide cross border services.