The European Court of Justice (CJEU) has thrown out a petition from the government of Belgium seeking to annul the online gambling guidelines set by the European Commission to member states.

The Belgian government has earlier asked the CJEU to strike down the commission guidelines that aims to develop a high degree of consumer protection, claiming that the European Commission has stepped beyond its Treaty-based competences by issuing the guidelines.

In junking Belgium’s petition, the European court ruled that the commission didn’t see anything wrong when the defendant published a number of practical online gambling recommendations to member states in 2014.

After an analysis, the court rejected Belgium’s arguments that the commission went beyond its mandate and interfered with the sovereignty of member states and their power to regulate national gambling markets.