The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today ruled that Finland and Luxembourg had breached EU law by failing to transpose fully an European Directive prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin (Directive 2000/43/EC). The deadline for EU Member States to transpose this Directive was 19 July 2003 - except for the 10 new Member States, who had to ensure that their legislation complied with the Directives by EU accession on 1 May 2004.

Commenting on the ECJ ruling, European Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, said: "Member States have had almost five years, since the Directive's adoption in 2000, to put this EU law into their national legislation. I urge those countries lagging behind to move quickly to meet their obligations in this area, which is vital for the protection of fundamental rights in the EU".

The 'Racial Equality Directive' prohibits direct and indirect discrimination in a wide range of areas including employment, education, social security and healthcare, access to goods and services and housing. It also requires Member States to designate a body to provide practical and independent support to victims of racial discrimination.

In Luxembourg's case, draft legislation transposing the Directive was presented to Parliament in November 2003, but has not yet been adopted. In Finland, legislation transposing the Directive in mainland Finland was published in January 2004, but this does not cover Finland's Aland Islands (where approximately 25,000 people live).

Germany and Austria have also been referred to the Court for their failure to adopt national law transposing this Directive.