EU 'terror' racquets court ruling

Dominic Hughes BBC News, Strasbourg

Items like liquids and sharp objects are unaffected by the ruling

A secret EU list of items banned from being carried on to aircraft has been declared illegal by the European Court of Justice.

The case was brought by an Austrian amateur tennis player who was thrown off a flight in Vienna in 2005.

Gottfried Heinrich refused to surrender his tennis racquets from his hand luggage after being told they were a possible terrorist weapon.

Staff felt the tennis racquets fell into the category of prohibited items.

But European judges have now ruled the unpublished list can not be enforced because passengers are unable to find out what is on it.

Security fears

The curious case of the threatening tennis racquets came to light when Heinrich was on his way to a tennis tournament.

He had cleared Vienna airport's normal security checks when staff declared his tennis racquets, carried as hand luggage, posed a potential terrorist threat.

He refused to give them up, so was thrown off the flight.

Outraged, he brought a compensation case, which exposed the existence of a secret European Commission list of items that are banned from hand luggage.

But that list is not made public because of security fears.

Now, the court has had its say.

The well publicised prohibition on items like liquids and sharp objects, however, is unaffected.