Formula One received a pre-Christmas payback for its role in delaying a European ban on tobacco sponsorship yesterday when the European Commission in Brussels ordered it to change its rules in order to loosen its control over the sport.

It is understood that a toughly worded dossier listing at least 15 infringements of European Union trading regulations has been sent from the commission to Max Mosley, president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), which runs the Grand Prix championship.

The commission's warning to the FIA makes clear it believes it to be in breach of articles 85 and 86 of the EC Treaty ensuring free trade and preventing organisations from abusing their position. As such, the FIA could be taken before the European Court of Justice.

The commission has also warned that Bernie Ecclestone, who runs the marketing arm of Formula One racing for the FIA, may be involved in a conflict of interest as a member of its governing body while carrying out commercial activities which benefit him.

An FIA spokesman dismissed the commission's action as naive last night and warned it could force the association to move races to other parts of the world. Currently 10 of the 17 grand prix events of the drivers' championship take place in Europe.

The commission believes that the FIA's technical control of the rules of the sport and its conduct should be separated from its financial and commercial interests such as its control of television rights.

It is being told that its refusal to give competitors access to the market for organising motor sport events represents a serious infringement of the treaty and amounts to an abuse of its regulatory powers.

Its monopoly over broadcasting rights is also regarded as an abuse of its dominant position over the sport and a serious restriction of competition because organisers of events are not free to conclude contracts with broadcasters on their own account. The FIA's 14-year exclusivity agreement with Ecclestone's company is itself held to be disproportionate and excessive.

The move, initiated by Karel Van Miert, the EU's competition commissioner, follows less than three weeks after European health ministers bowed to the sport's pressure and granted it nine seasons - until after the 2006 Grand Prix series - to phase out tobacco advertising and sponsorship.