In a new case submitted to the EFTA Court by Oslo District Court (Oslo tingrett), which is to be known as Case E-8/23, Trannel International Limited v Norway, the Norwegian court raises a question on the award of exclusive right for gaming under Directive 2014/23 (Award on Concession Contracts Directive).
It firstly wants to know what are the determinable factors in considering whether, under the Directive, an award is an administrative authorisation scheme (outside of public procurement law), or a services concession under the Directive.
More specifically flowing therefrom, the referring national court wants to know whether the award of an exclusive right to offer horse race betting to a foundation organised in a manner similar to that of Stiftelsen Norsk Rikstoto, a “services concession” under the Directive.
Norway awarded the Stiftelsen Norsk Rikstoto – a Norwegian enterprise – authorisation to be the exclusive rights holder for horse race betting in Norway from 2023, for ten years. The applicant claims that their application for the authorisation was not consider on its merits, and thus is contrary to EEA law. The applicant in this case, which is known as Case No 22-132552TVI-TOSL/05 before the Oslo District Court, is a firm domiciled in Malta.
In 2021, the EFTA Surveillance Authority announced it would no longer give much of a hearing to complaints brought against infringements of EEA law on gambling, and so private enforcement before national courts is now the only way in which economic operators can assert their rights.
More on Case E-8/23, Trannel International Limited v Norway, can be found here, which will not work its way through the judicial process, before being decided upon by the EFTA Court in 2024.