Originally Posted by
fastair
And I didn't see the Maastricht Treaty signed until 1 Nov. 1993. Might want to check to see when the current "EU' was formed. UA flew transantlantic prior to Nov 1993, which is the time the Eu was formally established.
Perhaps you are thinking of 1973, when the UK joined the "European Communities"? (note the EC is not the EU. The EU is a parliment that officialy started 1 Nov 93, and was signed previous to that, but not active, in 1992.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht_Treaty
The accuracy of this statement aside, the regulation itself only dates from 2004 (and went into effect in 2005).
That being said, it is not unheard of for a company to withdraw its business interests from a country after the passage of new laws. For example, some oil companies weren't too fond of Chavez' new laws in Venezuela...
http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/28200794417.htm