 At the same time , a local court in Germany ruled that the television rights to the FIA European Truck Racing Cup ( passed to Ecclestone by the FIA the previous year , along with all other FIA authorised championships ) should be returned to the series organiser , following a complaint from German television company <unk> TV @-@ <unk> . The TV Company argued that Ecclestone and Mosley were in breach of commercial clauses in the Treaty of Rome ; following the court 's decision Mosley appealed the judgement and cancelled the series until further notice . On appeal , the court ruled that the series organiser should be able to sell the television rights to whoever they felt was the best option for coverage and the FIA reinstated the European Truck Racing Cup . Between 1997 and 2000 Mosley repeatedly warned that if any EU decision went against the FIA , the marketing organisations and F1 itself would be moved out of Europe . In 1999 , the EU Commission Directorate @-@ General for Competition issued a Statement of <unk> , listing a number of grievances surrounding the FIA 's dealings with Ecclestone and Formula One . The FIA released the Statement to the media and held a press conference in Brussels <unk> the Commission ’ s case . The Commission argued that a number of commercial agreements could be viewed as anti @-@ competition and invited the FIA and Ecclestone 's companies , <unk> and <unk> , to submit proposals to modify these arrangements . In 2001 , nine months after settlement talks had begun , the parties reached an agreement to amend existing contracts , which included Ecclestone stepping down as the FIA 's vice @-@ president of promotional affairs and the FIA ending all involvement in the commercial activities of Formula One . Mosley came up with an innovative way to dispose of the FIA 's involvement in the commercial activities of Formula One . In order to maintain Ecclestone 's investment to deliver digital television , he proposed extending Ecclestone 's rights for F1 coverage to 100 years from the initial 15 , arguing that a deal of such length could not be anti @-@ competition as it was effectively the same as an outright sale . The Commission agreed with his assessment and in the interest of impartiality , Mosley removed himself from the negotiations , which eventually returned around $ 300 million ( £ 150 million ) . The FIA planned to " put almost all of it into a charitable foundation which will then have the resources to undertake important work on improving safety in motor sport and in road safety " , and thus the FIA Foundation was created in 2001 . In addition , the FIA continued to receive an annual <unk> from the deal , Mosley stated : " Over the <unk> of the contract , and on an annual basis , the sum we have accepted represents billions of dollars . <unk> at from that point of view , it is a huge amount of money . " Lovell compares the figure to extend the rights to 100 years to the £ 600 million <unk> paid for the rights to the 2002 Football World Cup and the £ 1 @.@ 1 billion British Sky Broadcasting paid for a three @-@ year package of English Premier League football . The figure was not entirely comparable however due to the dispute over who actually owned Formula One . Before the settlement with the EU Commission was reached , Mosley feared that the FIA was losing control over the sport following a heated argument with Ecclestone in Paris . Ecclestone argued that he had built Formula One into the entity that it was and the FIA only had rights to designate the event as official . Ecclestone threatened to " do a <unk> earth " if another party were to gain control of the commercial side of Formula One . Mosley came up with the solution in order for the FIA to retain its sporting management role and Ecclestone to retain his commercial role . 
