Omega Spielhallen-Und Automatenaufstellungs - Gmbh V Oberbürgermeisterin Der Bundesstadt Bonn [2004]

Summary

A national measure banning the commercial exploitation of games simulating acts of homicide could be justified on public policy grounds by way of derogation from the freedom to provide cross border services guaranteed by the EC Treaty.

The German court sought a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of those provisions of the EC Treaty which related to the freedom to provide services. A German company (O) operated a game, "Laserdrome", which employed gun type laser targeting devices developed from a widely available toy.

However, O found the equipment technically inadequate and concluded a franchising agreement with a British supplier (P) of a variant of the laser game, the object of which was to fire on human targets. The police authority, operating under powers which allowed them to take measures necessary to avert a risk to public order or safety, issued an order prohibiting O from operating any game where human targets were fired upon due to the game's trivialisation of violence.

The German court held that the commercial exploitation of a "killing game" constituted an affront to the constitutional concept of human dignity. The European Court of Justice was asked to rule as to whether…