The news follows last week’s ruling by a British judge that Taiwanese import/export company Lik-Sang could not sell the Japanese version of PSP in Europe.

A spokesperson for SCEE told the BBC: “The law is clear, and grey importing PS2, PSP or PS3 into the EU, without the express permission of SCEE, is illegal.

“Therefore, we will utilise the full scope of the law to put a stop to any retailers who chose to do this. Ultimately, we’re trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards.”

The PS3 is due for European release in March next year. The console goes on sale in Japan on November 11th and the US on November 17th.