The European Union has ruled that it will be legal for employers to auto-enrol staff into a contract-based defined contribution pension scheme, removing a key obstacle to UK government plans for pensions reform in 2012. Employers will not now be prevented by the European Distance Marketing Directive from auto-enrolling staff into group personal pensions (GPPs) or stakeholder schemes as an alternative to personal accounts when the new national pensions savings scheme is introduced in 2012.