Imperial Tobacco and BAT routed in war with EU over health warnings

Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco (BAT) have lost their battle against a European Union directive requiring larger health warnings on packs.

Directive 2001/37/EC, on the manufacture, sale and presentation of tobacco products, also bans terms such as “light” and “mild”, which health lobby groups say mislead consumers into thinking certain brands are safer.

The cigarette giants had argued that the EU and its executive arm, the European Commission, have no jurisdiction over health, and must leave such matters to individual member states (MW September 12).

But the European Court of Justice ruled this week that the EU and the EC did have the necessary powers, because it was a matter of single market harmonisation. If it were left to member states to make individual tobacco labelling laws, the result would effectively be the creation of trade barriers within the EU.

However, there was some cheer for the tobacco industry – the ECJ ruled that the ban on descriptors such as “light” and “mild” did not apply to products made in the EU for export to non-EU countries.

Two years ago, the ECJ ruled that a tobacco advertising directive, banning certain sorts of advertising, was invalid. Last week, the EU’s Council of Ministers adopted a much weaker version of that directive (MW December 5).

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