Scientology Wins Ruling on French Law

The European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday against a French law requiring prior notification of foreign direct investment--a law challenged by the Church of Scientology, the Los Angeles-based church founded by the late U.S. science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

The court ruled that the French law breached European Union rules on free movement of capital.

The Paris branch of the Church of Scientology and a British-registered trust belonging to the church had said that the 1996 law, requiring notification of investments that could threaten public policy, health or security, was tantamount to a refusal of a request to repeal such restrictions.

The court ruled that any such notification system was a restriction on capital movement and could be tolerated only within clearly defined guidelines giving investors a right of redress--criteria that the French law did not meet.

“The excessively general nature of the definition of investments that are such as to represent a threat to public policy and public security, without any reference to specific circumstances, renders the French legislation contrary to the [EU] treaty,” the court said in a press summary of its judgment.

In Paris, the Church of Scientology said it had challenged the French law after it was not allowed to import funds needed to pay a tax bill.

The church said in a statement that it now expected France’s highest administrative court to rule in its favor in that dispute.

Last month, a blue-ribbon government panel studying what French officials define as “sects” concluded that Scientology is a “vast enterprise of transnational character.”

In the report to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, the panel contended that Scientology is, in fact, a moneymaking venture.

The report went to the extraordinary length of proposing the dissolution of Scientology in France.