The police authority of the city of Bonn (Germany) issued an order prohibiting the operation of games involving firing at human targets. The argument was that this game constituted an affront to human dignity as guaranteed in Article 1 (1) of the German Constitution. Even if the appeal initiated by Omega against this order was dismissed by the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court), the later was, however, uncertain whether the prohibition was compatible with the freedom to provide services and the freedom of movement of goods as guaranteed in the EC Treaty. The question referred to the ECJ was as follows:

“Is it compatible with the provisions on freedom to provide services and the free movement of goods contained in the Treaty establishing the European Community for a particular commercial activity – in this case the operation of a so called “laserdrome” involving simulated killing action – to be prohibited under national law because it offends the values enshrined in the constitution?”

The ECJ referred to its judgment in Schmidberger and confirmed that the protection of fundamental rights justifies, in principle, a restriction upon fundamental freedoms. The ECJ shared the opinion of the Advocate General that “the Community legal order undeniably strives to ensure respect for human dignity as a general principle of law”.

Both in Omega and Schmidberger cases the ECJ accepted the government’s reasons, allowing that measures seeking to ensure respect for human rights may be justified.

Text of the ECJ judgment
Text of the AG opinion