Victor Dewsbery wrote:
... and sure enough, it isn't.
I googled for the directive number, and got 39 hits from various joke sites. The earliest seems to be from 2006.
The format of the number is not right for the real EU anyway - the real numbers of directives generally have the format YYYY/##/EC or YY/##/EC (the order of the elements and the number of digits may vary, but this is basically the pattern).
E.g. 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 (right to equal treatment irrespective of race & ethnic origin).
However, it's a lovely story, so I'm glad that Mariana posted it.
But it's in the same league as the story that the EU wants to ban April Fools Day (seen in the SUN newspaper in 2005 - anyone care to guess the date?).
Of course it's a joke, Victor, but I also thought it was worth it!
Cheers.