Europe's ESA has warned Norway against going ahead with proposed bans on payment processing to online gambling organizations.
The EFTA Surveillance Authority, the body charged with enforcement of European Economic Area trade rules has cautioned the Norwegian government that such a ban could be in contravention of EEA free trade rules.
More specifically, the free provision of services and the free movement of capital, Articles 36 and 41, or the EEA Agreement. These articles are similar to Article 49 of the EU Treaty to which EU Member States are subject, and provides that EEA members must not legislate to ban certain services on protectionist grounds (ie where that same service is legally able to be provided by local operators)
Norway proposes to introduce its payment bans in August, and they will prohibit the processing of online gambling payments via debit and credit cards, bank transfers and e-money, with the exception of payments made to state-owned monopolies Norsk Tipping and Rikstoto which will be exempt from the legislation.
It's a prohibition path many EU and EEA member states have gone down only to be slapped on the wrist and forced to change laws. It will be interesting to see how things pan out in Norway.
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