LIABILITY OF THE EUROPEA N COURT OF JUSTICE?It's a possibility at least, thinks Advocate General Leger.

His opinion in the case of Baustahlgewebe GmbH v The Commission (C-185/95) suggests that this may be the case.

In 1989 the company had been fined for anti competitive behaviour, but brought annulment proceedings in the same year.

But the judgment of the Court of First Instance following these proceedings was not delivered until 1995.

The company has alleged a breach of its right to a fair trial under art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Leger considers that the Convention may apply to the conduct of the European Court of Justice.

If so, he says, an action for damages might lie under articles 178 or 215 of the EC Treaty (or both).BUCKING THE TRENDSweden caused a surprise this spring cutting excise duty on tobacco products by 27 per cent.

This is against the trend in most EU members apart from the Mediterranean tobacco producing states.

Stockholm says its action is to counter the surge in tobacco smuggling, and reflects the self evident proposition that when high price differentials in commodities are created through fiscal intervention, then smuggling is inevitable.

As Sweden's finance minister points out, reducing tobacco tax will make it less profitable to import contraband goods.

At the time of his announcement, a packet of twenty cigarettes cost around 44 kronur in Sweden, of which 33 kronur represents tax.

This message has yet to reach the Treasury of the United Kingdom, where Customs and Excise report that drug smugglers are turning to tobacco smuggling instead, because the terms of imprisonment they risk are lower.LEGALITY OF EXCISE INCREASE REMAINS IN QUESTIONLife has been breathed into the brewer Shepherd Neame's efforts to overturn the Chancellor's rise in beer duty rates which he introduced last summer.

Cherie Booth QC has obtained permission to take the issue to take the matter to the Court of Appeal.

It is hoped that at that stage a reference to the European Court of Justice will be made.

The Vice Chancellor said that the matters raised issues of constitutional importance.

It will be recalled that Sir Richard Scott conducted an extensive enquiry into the conduct of Customs and Excise staff in matters arising from its investigation of export licensing.

Stuart Neame, a director of the brewing company, said that "every trick in the book" had been used by the authorities to try to get the case swept under the carpet.

While this argument drags on, doubt remains about the legality of a mass of legislation in the excise field.GREATER CONSUMER PROTECTIONNew EU legislation just agreed gives consumers two year guarantee for goods bought anywhere in the European Union.

Purchasers of faulty goods can opt either to have a faulty product replaced or to have it repaired.

The directive lays a burden of proof on the supplier to show that a product is not defective, though this is limited to only six months following the date of purchase.

The legislation will apply to all Members States, but questions remain about how effectively it can be enforced.

Whatever the law may say in the field of consumer protection, buck passing between retailer and manufacturer is a constant obstacle when complaints are made about faulty goods.The greatest advance needed in consumer protection is in the burgeoning field of services.

Typically in advanced economies the production of goods usually only accounts for 20-25 per cent of national production as their outputs move over to the service sector.

Whether computer programs should in law be categorised as goods or services has yet to concern the highest courts in the land.

But the problem cannot long be delayed when purchasers of software which is not capable of taking account of the year 2000 begin actions in this country for compensation.

The unlimited potential for damage awards has already caused some state legislatures in America to attempt to place an upper limit our awards which can be made in their courts against software suppliers.US EXTRA TERRITORIAL UPDATEThis column has tracked the history of the EU's angry reaction to the Helms-Burton and D'Amato-Kennedy legislation on attempting extra territorial sanctions imposed in US courts against non American nationals trading in Cuba, Iran and Libya.

Fortunately the heat seems to be going out of a situation which had the potential to blow up into a very nasty trade war between close allies.

The EU had obtained a dispute resolution panel under World Trade Organisation rules as part of the Commission's reaction to what it perceived as interference with trade.

But both sides have been moving away form action which might be interpreted as provocative.

In April 1997 the WTO panel was suspended as a step in the cooling off process.

Under the procedures which apply to dispute resolution, panels can only suspended for a period of twelve months.

Following this they must either be reactivated or elapse.

The twelve month period having expired, Brussels has allowed the panel to lapse.

However, a warning has been given that a new panel would immediately be applied for any proceedings which are instituted in an American court against a company in the European Union.EUROS MAY DO NICELY, SIROr not, as British politicians of most stripes take the longer view.

But Brussels is still trying to warm up the water for those still sceptical about dipping their toe into the new currency.

The start up date is certain now, and the Commission has produced a recommendation that banks should not charge for changing accounts into euros.

A standard of good practice on bank charges for conversion to the new European currency also lays down that banks should not charge for converting payments or 'household amounts' of national currency during the transitional period.

One factor which has given the euro a fair chance of establishing itself as a strong currency is that the age of the strong American dollar may be coming to an end just when the German mark will be reinventing itself.TRADE GROUPINGS EXPANSIONAt the same time as the proposal for a transatlantic free trade area in services is getting into the air, another drive for a "Free Trade Area of the Americas" is lumbering down the runway.

The leaders of most states from north, south and central America recently met at Santiago to try to drive this agenda forward.

The protected commencement is 2005, which may seem rather ambitious.

But things are moving swiftly in areas which until very recently were unthinkable.

If Chile can overcome its traditional hatred of all things Argentinean and join that country in Mercosur, together with Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, then very rapid change in attitudes are undoubtedly taking place.

The European Union is currently proposing a new "Millennium" round of world trade negotiations to carry forward the work of the Uruguay Round agreed at Marrakesh.

There are such rapid developments now in trade in services supplied by new information technology and backed by innovation in intellectual property that the updated GATT agreements finalised as recently as 1994 are already appearing inadequate to cope.WHAT LINGUA FRANCA ?The development of any living language is in a constant state of flux; were this not so, that language would have died out as a means of oral communication.

But a changing world calls for ever faster communication, which means simultaneous transmission and comprehension.

After the United States achieved independence, its economic, political and cultural advance came to astound the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

A significant factor was its insistence on a single language to govern the administration of a growing number of states covering a vast geographic area.

The European Union may be poised to challenge American economic hegemony early in the next century, but before its does there are critical linguistic problems to be solved.

Catering for the tongues of the existing fifteen Member States places a financial burden on the Commission's resources, which costs over £2 billion yearly at present rates.

The speed and productivity of its work is seriously marred by the need to interpret and translate across a slate of widely differing languages.

But when the newly admitted states show up over the next few years this problem is going to be exacerbated, particularly as Slavic and Magyar tongues have very little in common with existing EU languages.

Preserving national cultures is an admirable objective, and the concerns of some about the intrusion of alien cultures under the banner of free trade in audio visual material is understandable.

But unless the EU can agree on a single working language, it will find it difficult to stand to the challenge of multinational corporations pressing for ever freer trade, and inevitably operating successfully under a single working language.

A survey by the International Institute for Strategic Studies has a more sinister threat.

It suggests that the rapidity with which both money and information can cross borders has diminished the capacity of national governments to govern.

Economic and military crises will erupt requiring immediate intervention.

If the EU is stuck half way up the stairs of the Tower of Babel, it can have no hope of effective action when a balloon goes up.INTERNATIONAL PLANT PROTECTIONIntellectual property is rapidly becoming one of the most important engines for wealth creation which has ever been devised.

A backwater in the field is that of the protection of plant and seed varieties.

One of the bodies which operate under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

A new treaty for which it is responsible has just come into force offering extended protection for plant and seed varieties against development by the so called genetic engineers.

It forbids the use of grains and other seeds as a carrier for genetic agricultural development without the right owner's permission.Although the World Trade Organisation includes seed and plant variety protection under the umbrella of its agreements, there is considerable opposition to the use of such protection in under developed countries which are heavily dependent on peasant and small proprietor agriculture.

The rights to seed varieties are usually acquired by multinational corporations which license their use.

Underdeveloped countries claim their farming sectors cannot afford them, and contend that certain strains of seed should not have been protected in this way.

This is analogous to complaints in the music industry, that arrangements are frequently made of traditional airs that have existed for hundreds of years in fo lk music, so that they become subject to copyright protection, and that royalties must subsequently be paid for their performance.

In India, pressure for withdrawing from some WTO agreements has become a political issue.

As the debate about the merits of free trade intensifies, increasingly the question will be asked, "To whom does the freedom apply?"