GPS Approach - I'm not sure that I would agree with your last paragraph. Under the JAR system you do not 'get issued with an ATPL' at 200 hours, you are issued with a CPL and Instrument Rating, exactly what you have qualified for. The fact that ATPL level theoretical knowledge has been passed makes no difference whatsoever, except that it is a JAR-OPS requirement for membership of a multi-pilot, public transport crew.
There is, in fact, no such thing as a 'frozen ATPL'. The term is simply shorthand for CPL/IR with ATPL knowledge. Whereas in the past the ATPL was issued automatically when you achieved the minimum hours required, an ATPL is not now issued until you have passed the ATPL Skill Test and, whilst there is no minimum experience for taking the test, there is not much point in doing it until you have reached the minimum hours for issue of the licence which, surprisingly enough, are the same as for the States except that 500 of them must be in multi-pilot operations.
Effectively, therefore, the two systems are virtually the same, except that to pass the JAA exams you actually have to learn the subject matter.