An EU court yesterday dismissed a French customs firm's claim that the EU should pay it for business lost after border controls were lifted in 1993 under the single market plan. That plan, under which goods are supposed to flow freely, ended the demand for firms to fill in dozens of customs forms for companies transporting goods from one EU country to another.

French customs firm, Eduard Dubois, said the European Commission and the EU's Council of Ministers must compensate it for loss of business after January 1st, 1993.