Spanish court dismisses Royal Decree delay appeal
AMI lawsuit calling for postponement until 30 August rejected by judges despite claims of €6m loss to sports clubs
Spain’s Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal to delay the entry into force of the controversial Royal Decree on Commercial Communications until 30 August on precautionary grounds.
The Association of Information Media (AMI) filed an appeal against the Spanish government’s decision to enact the decree on 1 May, suggesting this would be a “positive precautionary measure” and could protect sponsorship revenue from major sports events.
The appeal centred on article 23.1 of the decree, which relates to gambling ads broadcast during live events through video-sharing services, with broadcasting of those adverts soon to be limited to between 1am and 5am.
In its appeal, AMI argued that Spain’s media operators have been “economically hindered” by the requirement to conform to the decree, especially given the rescheduled UEFA European Championships and the Tokyo Olympics.
Both events, which draw significant media and sponsorship revenue, were postponed in 2020 following the global coronavirus pandemic.
“The court considers that delaying from 1 May to 30 August is not convincing from the perspective of precautionary protection insofar as it is intended to reject the entry into force of a precept of an executive regulation of the gambling law that, due to its own nature, has the vocation to be integrated into the legal system,” the court stated.
In its deliberations, judges boiled the AMI appeal down to whether the exclusion would be disproportionate if applied in May.
“What is being questioned is the very validity of said third final provision, based on economic criteria, derived from the inappropriateness of applying said regulation coinciding with advertising of sporting events that are conducive to online gambling activities, which would cause damage that amounts to almost €6m,” the judges explained.
“As the state attorney argues in his opposition brief, it is a general provision of mandatory compliance for all those affected, whose validity cannot be questioned based on interests other than those of the public interest,” the court added.
The court sided with the Spanish government’s representative on the grounds that the decree’s public interest aim, the protection of at-risk gamblers, overrode any potential challenge on economic grounds.
A separate appeal by Spanish trade association Jdigital is yet to be decided.